FS-UAE standalone USB

[malko]

Originally Posted by Dunny

You can't do it in Windows though, it has to be either Linux or Mac.

I would be please to do it but I have neither Linux nor Mac..

[nobody]

Originally Posted by malko

I wanted to update the 4.9.3 to 4.12.3.
After creating the 4.12.3 USB strick I noticed that the grub menu does not propose any more the option for "(older PC's<3G RAM, faster)". The laptop I am using Amilator with has only 1GB ram.
Would you mind adding back this "faster" option in 4.12.3 ?

Another question: I wanted to add the IPF support to 4.9.3 but didn't find the PLUGIN folder to copy the plug-in files. I have created one in the root of the USB and extracted there the zip but still get the message that it is not available when inserting an IPF floppy. Is the PLUGIN folder inside the squasfs ?

1. There isn't an option because a working kernel for older PCs didn't exist on "Debian Sid" repositories. But it should work with the default kernel, maybe 1% slower.

2. You could add the plugin yourself by copying it to the Data folder on USB and then adding a line to the file named "searchadf" inside /floppies directory on USB to copy to squashfs on boot. It's a bit complicated.

[malko]

Originally Posted by nobody

1. There isn't an option because a working kernel for older PCs didn't exist on "Debian Sid" repositories. But it should work with the default kernel, maybe 1% slower.

I once by mistake selected the "pae" line but thought is was more slower than just 1%. But OK, will test it.

Originally Posted by nobody

2. You could add the plugin yourself by copying it to the Data folder on USB and then adding a line to the file named "searchadf" inside /floppies directory on USB to copy to squashfs on boot. It's a bit complicated.

Ok the copy has been done.
What is the line that must be inserted in the "searchadf" file ?

[nobody]

Download the plugin and unpack it to USB root. You will have a folder named CAPSImg.
Then add this line to "searchadf" file.

cp -r /amiga/CAPSImg /root/Documents/FS-UAE/Plugins/

Test and report.

[malko]

Originally Posted by nobody

Download the plugin and unpack it to USB root. You will have a folder named CAPSImg.
Then add this line to "searchadf" file.
cp -r /amiga/CAPSImg /root/Documents/FS-UAE/Plugins/
Test and report.

I have adapted the 'cp' command to match the folders hierarchy on my USB.
cp -r /amiga/Data/Plugins/CAPSImg /root/Documents/FS-UAE/Plugins/

Anyway, I have to admit that there is no change at all. When inserting an IPF image, the message "IPF SUPPORT PLUGIN (CAPSIMG) IS NOT INSTALLED." is still there.

{1.}
It looks strange to me but it seems that the 'cp' command is not executed on start-up.
I explain: when the Amiga is loaded (when the Workbench is displayed), if I open another console and log-in with root, let's say tty5 (the Amiga is on tty7), there is no 'Plugins' folder in /root/Documents/FS-UAE.

If I make the copy manually**, and reboot* the Amiga in order for the config files to be read again, I am able to access IPF disk.

Do you have any idea why the 'cp' is not executed from the "floppies/searchadf" file ?
Could it be possible that the 4.9.3 boot procedure has not enough privilege for the copy ?


**{2.}
The 'cp' command looks to be buggy:
As said there is no 'Plugins' folder in " /root/Documents/FS-UAE ". When in tty5 I type " cp -r /amiga/Data/Plugins/CAPSImg /root/Documents/FS-UAE/Plugins/ " and then " ls /root/Documents/FS-UAE/Plugins " I get : " Linux Version.txt Windows MacOS ". Folder 'CAPSImg' is not present (!?).
If I retype the sames commands 'cp' and 'ls' I get : " CAPSImg Linux Version.txt Windows MacOS ". Now the 'CAPSImg' folder is present.
So it looks that when the 'cp' creates the 'Plugins' folder, it miss the creation of the 'CAPSImg' one and copy only it's content (???).
I don't know Linux enough but think it is not normal... Is it ?


*(please let me know the correct way of doing a reboot [in fact, sometimes the ALT+Q does not turn off the laptop but reboot the Amiga - and I have used this "feature"]. This reboot is stronger than an hard reset as the config file is re-read [as I can see the soft reset and hard reset available under F12, does not make the config file to be read again.])

[nobody]

The plugins folder is there when you start emulator. Maybe move the cp command on top of searchadf file.



The searchadf is executed just before you start the emulator

[Sinphaltimus]

Slightly a bit off topic but i have been trying to gfet this installed on a physical hard disk drive instead of USB thumbdrive. I was successful using some hdd backup programs to the point where GRUB shows up but then just a blinking cursor.

I humbly ask if anyone would know what to do. I'm not much of a linux guy but step by step linux instruction is easy for me to follow.

Was anyone else successful in getting this to boot directly from a hard disk drive or has anyone tried?

The USB works great. i love it. Just wish I didn't have to carry the usb with me in order to plug into the laptop I want to use with it. Takes up a port and stick out a lot. I was successful in getting it to run in a vm, but not ideal - I currently have one laptop that boots off Amiga Forever 2016, one laptop that boots to windows XP then immediately run winua in full window mode. Those have both been a challenge. I've got this 3rd laptop I'd love to get your USB setup working on as a stand alone boot from HDD without USb.

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

Slightly a bit off topic but i have been trying to gfet this installed on a physical hard disk drive instead of USB thumbdrive. I was successful using some hdd backup programs to the point where GRUB shows up but then just a blinking cursor.

I humbly ask if anyone would know what to do. I'm not much of a linux guy but step by step linux instruction is easy for me to follow.

Was anyone else successful in getting this to boot directly from a hard disk drive or has anyone tried?

The USB works great. i love it. Just wish I didn't have to carry the usb with me in order to plug into the laptop I want to use with it. Takes up a port and stick out a lot. I was successful in getting it to run in a vm, but not ideal - I currently have one laptop that boots off Amiga Forever 2016, one laptop that boots to windows XP then immediately run winua in full window mode. Those have both been a challenge. I've got this 3rd laptop I'd love to get your USB setup working on as a stand alone boot from HDD without USb.

I did this on my laptop, here's the instructions:

http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=153

But bear in mind that my new HDD was completely unformatted so the setup will be slightly different if you have an already prepared HDD. As Nobody pointed out, the SquashFS filesystem has FS-UAE inside it which means that it can't be easily upgraded. I've modified mine to point to an external directory for FS-UAE so all I have to do to upgrade is download and unpack a new distro, and I can do that easily enough while the Amiga emulation is running.

[Sinphaltimus]

Originally Posted by Dunny

I did this on my laptop, here's the instructions:

http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=153

Oh my, this looks very doable. Nah, i don't care about existing partitions, I'll just wipe the drive clean with GParted before starting. Thanks. I'm going to give this a try shortly, I'll let you know how it goes.

EDIT: Thank you! about to begin...

EDIT 2: Seems my tinkering messed up my USB drive, backing up my files and starting again from latest download. Will take a while but I'm very excited to get this done or at least attempted ASAP.

[malko]

Originally Posted by nobody

The plugins folder is there when you start emulator. Maybe move the cp command on top of searchadf file.
[...]
The searchadf is executed just before you start the emulator
[...]

I believe you . Nevertheless :



Same result with 4.9.3-pae.
As suggested, I also moved the 'cp' command on top of "searchadf" file but -> same result .

Tomorrow I will give a try with 4.12.3-pae (have to recreate the USB stick first).

PS: It's late and I forgot to thank you for your reply.

[nobody]

I am talking about 4.12-3 here.

[Sinphaltimus]

I was going to try and get this installed on a local HDD but first I needed to upgrade to the latest version. For some reason it doesn't work for me anymore. I keep getting a GRUB loading error 22 - I reran the syslinux install also with no change. Any ideas?

EDIT: so Error 22 means the referenced partition is missing.

When I view the USB drive in Windows disk Management I see one large FAT32 partition (7.62GB). I'm not sure what's going on.

EDIT2: NEVERMIND: Problem with USB port, was trying to boot off old attempt to get HDD working. Changed USB port and it's working now.

EDIT3: I'm at the point now where everything is copying to the local HDD via linux prompt. It will probably take all day. The 8GB USB is nearly full.

[Sinphaltimus]

Originally Posted by Dunny

I've got this working from main HDD. Note that it's still running from a squashfs filesystem, if that matters to anyone. I'm also working on a completely clean 500GB HDD, so partitions present. You may want to delete or move any currently active partitions.

Here's the process I used:

*SNIP*

cp -a * /media/disk

Thanks Dunny, I'm at this step here and I have 2 issues. The first issue might be causing the second issue, wondering if you could help me out (Private msg if need be to not hijack the thread).

First, I cannot stop fs-uae from starting up. I quit dozens of times but it keeps starting up again. Which isn't really a big deal, the linux console is up in the background and working away at the file copies.

However; I'm getting a ton of errors. I don't know if FS-UAE up and running is causing this or not. here is a blurry (sorry) camera shot of just a small section of erros I'm getting.

[Dunny]

Wow, that looks super screwy. Post your exact command lines, and we'll take a look. Symbolic links don't work on FAT32, so there's that - but there shouldn't be any to copy over

Edit: Ah yes.

After mounting, before you copy, cd /amiga and then perform the copy. That will get you where you need to go - I'll update the post.

You can also do

cp -a /amiga/* /media/disk

instead. Sorry for that

[malko]

Originally Posted by nobody

I am talking about 4.12-3 here.

OK. On the newly created Amilator 4.12.2-pae USB, I have first tested the manual copy. As you said, "Plugins" folder is present by default. The copy succeeded.
(I have also tested the behaviour of 'cp' if the "Plugins" folder does not exist (tested with "Plugins2" name). As with 4.9.3 only the content of CAPSImg is present (?). CAPSImg folder is created if the 'cp' is executed a second time (?). For me, two different behaviours for the same command, looks abnormal but as it is nothing related with Amilator, I will not investigate further for now).



Then I have added the 'cp' line in floppies/searchadf. Everything goes fine here again. IPF images can be read on the Workbench side .

Thanks again for your help nobody

[Sinphaltimus]

I'm a bit confused and can use a little help:

I have setup the same hdf files on my PC with winUAE and they work fine.

When i copy them to fs-uae they don't boot up.

I get an AROS screen that states "waiting for boot media"

I have no idea where that AROS screen is coming from.

Please help.

Here is my host-props:

#host properties here in bash style
#every prop need to be prefixed with "export"

#WIFI SETTING
WIFI_SSID="ssid"
WIFI_PASS="wifipass"

#after uae close do:
# restart_uae
# reboot
# shutdown
# spawn_shell
AFTER_UAE_STOP="spawn_shell"

#UAE CONFIG FILE TO LOAD (from configs directory on flashdrive)
UAE_CONFIG_FILE=amiga-1200.fs-uae

and here is my amiga-1200.fs-uae:

# FS-UAE configuration saved by FS-UAE Launcher
# Last saved: 2016-12-17 21:11:11

[fs-uae]
amiga_model = A1200
bsdsocket_library = 1
cdrom_drive_count = 0
#cdrom_drive_0 = /amiga/cd-roms/AmigaOS 4.1 FE Classic v53.71.iso
#cdrom_image_0 = /amiga/cd-roms/AmigaOS 4.1 FE Classic v53.71.iso
chip_memory = 2048
cpu = 68040-NOMMU
graphics_card = uaegfx-z3
graphics_memory = 32768
hard_drive_0 = /amiga/hardfiles/System.hdf
hard_drive_1 = /amiga/hardfiles/Work.hdf
hard_drive_2 = /amiga/hardfiles/Programs.hdf
hard_drive_3 = /Amiga/harddirs/WHDload/Games
hard_drive_4 = /Amiga/harddirs/WHDload/Demos
hard_drive_5 = /mnt/auto/autofs/cdrom
hard_drive_6 = /amiga/floppies
hard_drive_5_read_only=1
# hard_drive_3= /mnt/auto/autofs/cdrom
# hard_drive_4= /amiga/floppies
# hard_drive_3_read_only=1
jit_compiler = 1
kickstart_file = /amiga/roms/kick.rom
zorro_iii_memory = 262144
keep_aspect = 1
floppies_dir=/amiga/floppies/mount/
floppy_drive_count = 2
mouse_speed=75
mouse_integration=0
base_dir=/root/Documents/FS-UAE
fullscreen_mode=window
uaem_write_flags=0
screenshots_output_dir=/amiga/Screenshots

EDIT: Additional Info: When I hard reset the amiga and go into early startup, none of the hdds are showing up. Only one boot device shows up and it's DF0: with no media. dunno if that helps.

EDIT2: fixed some typos

EDIT3 - History: I had Amilator up and running just fine on USB. I also have a laptop I tried installing many things on, like AROS broadway, Icaros, AF2017 KX Light. None of them would take or work as expected.Icaros was the closest but I could not get beyond a grey screen when attempting to setup workbench res to match icaros res. AROS broadway was my last attempt before going Amilator on USB.

Then I received instructions on how to get Amilator USB working on HDD from Dunny. After many attempts and issues, I finally got it working. That is to say I get the Amilator boot screen and FS-UAE starts.

Problem was (noted in OP) that AROS was booting within FS-UAW - I have no idea how that was happening. FS-UAS would start, screen would go black, and Orange triangle appeared in the top left corner of the screen and the CAT eyes from AROS Broadway would appear within FS-UAE. Perhaps this is a 68k version but I don't recall how it could have made it into my Amilator USB config.

so, Afer editing the configs and changing the HDFs and Harddirs around, I could not get away from AROS startup screen Awaiting for Boot Media. Seriously. I was beginign to think there is a default config hidden someplace that is not at all loading amiga-1200.fs-uae because no matter how many edits I did, it was the same result. AROS.

So I went back to the default extracte folders from the archive and copied them over everything, the configs, everything.

Now, it boots to a windir WB3.1 plain jane vanilla. Great! I can at least start here and figure out how to better manager different Amiga configs and work from that point.

Problem now is, none of the ADF files in the floppies/mount folder ae appearing. i cannot add any adfs to DF0: nothing appears in the list, after multiple reboots.

when I open the floppies disk on the workbench it is empty, but in linux it is not.

so I'm back to thinking there is a ghost install someplace with alternative Amiga setups not connected to the one off the root of the debian drive /amiga.

i did go into documents FS-UAE and found the setup there but it must be a symbolic link because the config changes I make there also appear in /amiga/configs.

So I'm confused and lost at the moment.


EDIT4: idiot mistake. I had to show all files to see the adfs in the floppies folder on workbench. OK, I'm slowly figuring this stuff out. Anyway, Amilator FS-UAE USB installed on laptop HDD successful. Updates should be easy now going forward.

I like to keep my USb and laptop in sync.

[malko]

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

So I'm confused and lost at the moment.

No direct help but an advice :
On your 'amiga-1200.fs-uae' config file, try :
1- comment all lines not mandatory. Remove all HD, floppy, etc. I mean : try first to go to the Amiga rom screen with a real basic config (like [amiga_model], [kickstart_file], etc) ;
2- then add others options... one by one... and test them one by one (floppy / other cpu / mouse / memory / hd / etc.) ;
3- if it is not working, re-read what you have typed in the config file (search for typing mistakes) - I don't tell you how many I did not see at first or second look ;
4- until you reach the config you are expecting.

Depending on the config you are expecting it could be a long process, but you will handle 'one thing at a time' and finally have less issues. A well, your config can work on a computer and not "as well" on another. So 'one by one' option test is worth the effort.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

Sorry OT

Originally Posted by Sinphaltimus

I also have a laptop I tried installing many things on, like AROS broadway, Icaros, AF2017 KX Light. None of them would take or work as expected.Icaros was the closest but I could not get beyond a grey screen when attempting to setup workbench res to match icaros res. AROS broadway was my last attempt before going Amilator on USB.

IcarOS it installs without any problem on PenDrive USB, HD external USB, but also in Dualboot with a Windows system

Dual Boot AROS/Windows7
[ Show youtube player ]

Install AROS USB External Hard Disk (with VMware Player)
[ Show youtube player ]

Install IcarOS on PendriveUSB (with VMware Player)
[ Show youtube player ]

[Sinphaltimus]

I never have any luck with icaros. I cn never get the resolution between WB and icaros configured which makes half the system unusable to me. I've given up with it on laptops. waiting to finish some projects so i can build and aros desktop.

Regarding my initial problems. i have discovered my amiga-1200.fs-uae to be write protected so none of my edits were working. I discovered this by booting with a linuxmint live dvd and troubleshooting my fs-uae issues there. I eventually got it all sorted. For now.

[Dunny]

Don't bother with AROS, it's awful and nowhere near ready for regular use as of yet.

But back to the main topic - you're booting with the 68k in-built AROS ROM image. Make sure you have a valid 3.1 ROM image renamed as "kick.rom" (lowercase might be important, make sure it matches your config). If there's no valid KS ROM where FS-UAE expects to find it, you get the AROS ROM.

And you don't want that, it's not very good.