Amithlon Setup Guide

[prowler]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

Second page of this thread

Thanks, TCD.

(I haven't been following this thread closely enough. )

[prowler]

Originally Posted by dframeli

Anyone know where I can DL a copy of the "Amiga XL Remover" utility?

Well, following the above guidance from TCD, it seems that the Amiga XL Remover was included in rZool's unofficial AmithlonUpdate v1.32.

A quick search has revealed that this file is no longer available.

Although I have no recollection of it now, it's quite possible that I may have downloaded this file when it was first released, as I did buy the Amithlon/AmigaOS XL package. I'll have a look through my archives for you.

[prowler]

I have a copy of the AmithlonUpdate v1.31, but I have not been able to find any evidence that rZool's unofficial AmithlonUpdate v1.32 was ever released.

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by rZool

I found this topic somes days ago, while I was talking with some others french Amithlon users on AmigaImpact. I was very happy to see a recent thread with many interesting things (I didn't know that we can use the rtg.library from WinUAE). Also, I discovered the existence of the unofficial update 1.31 !! In fact, I was working on some update scripts for myself, so I've decided to combine them to make a brand new unofficial update v1.32, really up to date.

As the previous updates, it works as an installer, which allows the user to select the software/patch he wants to install (so you'll don't have to download and install every programs by yourself anymore). Here are the changes I've made, and I would like to have your opinion. Do you thing I should change some things ? Did I forgot some essentials updates or utilities ? Btw, as you can see it includes the AHI v6, does I still need to install the linux sided ahi driver update (from the 1.29/contrib3b) ?

Every ideas or suggestions which can help me to improve this update are welcome ;-)

Thanks !


Changelog :

+ Added NewBaer
+ Added LowLevel Library V41.28
+ Added RaMithlon
* Updated OpenPCI v2.1 (before it was v1.2)
* Updated OpenPCI RTL8139 v1.2b4
+ Added AHI v6 m68k (planned to replace it by the x86 native, if I succeed to make it works)
+ Added Amiga XL remover (it removes files and icons only used by Amiga XL, so useless under Amithlon)
+ Added a french installer
* Updated the installer script (many changes) + Added rtg.lib v40.3992 (from WinUAE 1.5.0)

And I'll probably add OpenPCIInfo and PCIList if you think it can be usefull...

We need to find this I think or make our own. There are far too many patches to add to Amithlon and having something that would give you a current patched system in one step is a definite MUST

Originally Posted by Charlie

Most kind.

I'd install BB2 first (the Amithlon 3.9 comes with BB1)
then:
All the Amithlon updates in chronological order. (the date they were released - just set your WB prefs to arrange icons like this)

Um, sorry, me fibbing again You don't have to do all that. (it's just going through the docs for all the updates helps familiarise you with Amithlon's workings) What you really need is contrib3b, the latest Hyperion update and as you're running an Intel chip rather than AMD make sure the PIII patch is in your Satches directory...
...Proper accurate details can be found near the end of my guide when I come clean about leading you round the houses!
then:
Apply the patches that come with Gary's latest kernel. (you are using Gary's latest kernel?)
then:
If you need them install the OpenPCI support + any required drivers.
then:
Look for a later version of P96. (beware the installer won't be Amithlon aware, so make sure you're only updating libs & not settlings or drivers)
then:
Grab the rtg.lib from the latest stable WinUAE (helps with glitches if you're thinking of shooting for higher resolutions)
then:
Think about installing the latest AHI. (I'd suggest using the 68k archive NOT the Amithlon-native x86 version which can be a pain to get working)
then:
Back the whole lot up! (you won't want to do that again in an hurry)

Don't forget to add some updated + extra datatypes. WarpDT's are v.good but are shareware. AK-DT's are free & some come as Amithlon-native versions. (more speeeed!)
and:
Don't forget RaMithlon (speeds up memory a lot! - may as well make the fastest Amiga faster)

BB3 does not exist officially but if you Google for it you'll fine a few sites that refer to post-Hyperion patches + bug-fixes that probably won't make a huge improvement. (maybe WB a bit faster, as if you need that with Amithlon!) But, hey it's good to have all the latest stuff!
(These patches can yield useful speed increases if you are using a 'real' Amiga & are stuck with AGA)

Now comes the fun bit:
Throw every eye-candy patch you can @ it & see Amithlon lap it up.
DirOpus? Great (shame about the icon support)
PowerIcons? Great for PNG'ness (shame about the dragged images)
Scalos? (not as good as DirOpus but has proper PNG support - I never got this to work that well with Amithlon)
PowerWindowsNG? Great for all-sorts (you need to be running a patched rom for it to work - how you do that in Amithlon is another story, but among the files included with my guide is a hacked version of smallird.gz that has a patched rom)
MagicMenu? Use a nice background image & set it to semi-transparency (rude not to)
MCP? good idea.
ModePro?
E-UAE?
Lots of other worthwhile patches, Speed-up patches do make a noticeable difference: 0.5% on a real '040 will be barely perceptible but the same change with an '040 running @ 1ghz + can be seen.
Why not install a few emulators while you're at it? ShapeShifter under Amithlon is faster on the same hardware than any other 68k Mac emulator under any other OS.
You want 3D support? That can be done to via Warp3D. (see higher up this thread)

The list goes on & on...

Miami?
Yes, it's more 'advanced' than Genesis(AmiTCP) but Genesis is MUCH faster & more reliable in my experience. DCHP? You can find patches for this on Aminet if you really want but what I did was to assign a Static IP for Amithlon in Genesis even though my network is set up for DCHP. All I did was go into the Router's prefs & set it to always assign the same IP to the Amithlon's NIC - no messing, no patches, no Miami, no conflicts - worked like a charm...
...you may then want to brave the Amiga-ports of SAMBA & SMBFS but that's a whole new story.

See what I mean? No slur on Charlie who is an absolute star but this procedure is far too complicated!!

I looked at all the patches I could find and as far as I can tell the AmithlonUpdate 1.31 contains ALL the previous updates so no need to do others like Contrib pack etc and the Drivers090 pack contains all the ones previously as well (ie no need for Drivers086.lha).

Would be handy if we had a full pack that was current including all the other bits. EAB_Amithlon_Pack_01.lha anyone?

[tero]

Originally Posted by Methanoid

Did you need to use MAXCPUS=1 in the config?

Sorry for late reply was out of net the last months.
Im using the kernel param. discribed in one of the setup guides, it work
but only with the original kernel from cd - the new_emubox or Gary's hang up
with a message of error addressing virtuell memory

Maybe maxcpus make Gary's to work
but original works fine so...

[Charlie]

Hmmm,
I have some interesting Amithlon news...
...PM me if you're interested. It could be the end of listening to me rabbit on endlessly about setup 'n patches 'n updates.

But ask yourselves this:
If you didn't have to follow my convoluted 'explanations' round and round in circles would you be happier?
It's not the getting there but the pretty scenery on the way that counts!

[tero]

Surprise Surprise
Aros bootloader can Boot from AMithlon Partition!

Wanted to change Aros Partition to Amithlon one. Set partition from 30 to 76
Did reboot but forgot to insert AMithlon cd - but grubmenu comes up

??? Select Amithlon bigird and it's Booting from 0x76 Patition!

Hmm - format from Amithlon cd - install - copy boot folder from Aros cd
Edit grub.cfg - and it work

[Methanoid]

Not sure I follow this.. is this AROS booting or Amithlon and whatis the benefit of booting from AROS bootloader?

[tero]

it means you can use Aros to install bootloader and boot into Amithlon
With all files (Kernel/Grub) on Amithlon 76 Partition.

There's no need for extra bootpartition then.

I will post a short guide soon...

[tero]

Short guide to make Amithlon boot from itself
Aros isn't a complete and/or Stable/final product - do it at your own risk
I never went in trouble but it's still possible

Boot Aros - from livecd it's slow - installed it boots within 20 sec
tools/Hdtoolbox
Important: Set Virtuall RDB Partition to Aros 0x30
set Table to RDB
For the Partitions use - "FFS intl" or "SFS be"
Go parent until Unit 0 etc are shown, and mark edited drive
save changes
In Aros Install-ReadMe they suggest to reboot after each step, because of bugs
I made all changes in one turn - but you've been warned.
Other than 68K - unformated Partitions are not shown on desktop
Wenn all Partitions are set up do a reboot
When you rebooted after each step - as suggested
it's enough to do a Warmstart - 'Rightklick/wanderer/shutdown/reboot aros'
system/format - only format DHx Partitions
When Partitions not shown after that - do another warmstart
Copy the whole Boot folder from Aros CD to DH0
Open a shell

Install-grub2-i386-pc device ata.device unit 0 grub dh0:boot/grub

tools/Hdtoolbox and set the RDB Partition to AMithlon (0x76)
parent and save changes

Don't forget to copy Amithlon kernel to Boot folder/delete Aros kernel if not needed

edit boot/grub/grub.cfg
for Amithlon: (edit as it suit your needs)
menuentry "Amithlon_large" {
linux /boot/emubox.gz init=/linuxrc console_level=0 root=/dev/ram0 vga=769 ramdisk_size=12010 leavepages=7600
initrd /boot/bigird.gz
}

for Windows:
chainloader (hd0,x)+1 /x=1 When Win is on first partition



Some Notes:
From Amithlon it's ok to format but don't use HDToolbox - use aros one
When formating dh0 copy the boot folder again - install grub is not needed then

If anything happens - DON'T PANIC - use Aros cd to repair

When you need more help for Aros/Aros HDToolbox go to
http://aros.sourceforge.net/document...stallation.php
or ask here

You will also find Aros itself here (~50mb)


When everything works well Amithlon should boot after that

[Charlie]

Hmmm, intersting. You can run out of primary partitions pretty quick with a multi-boot enviroment. Nice to see a way of saving one.
Thanks tero

[alpyre]

Amithlon without the boot partition... cool...

If you have Windows XP Installed and aim to dual boot with Amithlon, without an extra boot partition, there is an alternative way to achieve it. With one exception : your Windows partition (C: probably) must be FAT32 formatted.

The boot folder is in a drawer called "Booters" on our latest Amithlon stuff (you should PM Charlie for the real thing). Mistakenly written "AmithlonBoot(WinNTFS)" which shoud be Win(Fat32) and vice versa... sorry for that.

So from Windows:
Copy that boot folder into the root of your C: (where "Documents and Settings", "Program Files" and "WINDOWS" folders are) and run bootinst.bat once (it is inside the boot folder). Then there you have it. It looks just like this:



The Backdrop image is the Amithlon.png file which could be edited or changed with another one. And to edit the options of the boot menu, you should open the Amithlon.cfg in an a text editor (it does what Menu.lst does in grub).

Thanks to Özay Turay for this great boot menu.

C ya all... Have fun!

[tero]

Good to know too, but i need to use NTFS because of the filesize
limit on FAT.
Ähmmm - and because of i'm using 4 OS's on my mainmachine
Menupicture from ArosGrub can be changed too

btw: the standard Grub can boot from AmigaDrives
OFS/FFS is called by Grub as AFFS, (seen in sources)
only problem is how to write the bootblock within AmigaOS

@Charlie - About the latest Amithlon stuff:
What is the musthave factor when i got all up and working
exception Vesa on NVidia 8600 PCIe.

[alpyre]

Hmm AFFS shall stand for "Amiga FFS".

So if Grub recognizes FFS formatted partitions, maybe we can write the bootblock Charlie's way. This time from AmigaOS, we can copy the Boot drawer from CD to our primary Amiga partitions root (DH0: or ADH0: ). Then reboot the computer from Grub bootdiskette or from the latest CD's Grub option. Then type:

find /boot/grub/stage1

If it can find the file, then possibly will write the bootblock too, with setup command...
Worth trying?
(I don't have any Amiga formatted harddrives to check this one...)

[Charlie]

Hi alpyre,
What can I say except:

Many thanks for your lovely Amithlon setup.


@tero:
You have no idea how complicated that question is to answer - I'm not even sure I can adequately...
...the easy way:
Mobo - nVidia NF2-Ultra or VIA KT600a based mobo.
CPU - Athlon XP(m)
RAM - The faster the better & Overclock. 512mb is fine, more if dual-booting
GFX - GF 4Ti or GF 5xxx - AGP! (or PCI)
Sound - SB128 or !Live
Net - Onboard if lucky, or see Gary's docs & OpenPCI for supported ones
USB - ArakAttack + An old Poseidon. (sadly)
Now, that's a pretty old bunch of hardware but it will still be bloody quick with Amithlon & will work.

...the hard way:
Choose a modern set-up, post what you're after here & do a bit of googling + searching of amithlon.open. If you're very lucky someone will say 'that works' otherwise it's fingers crossed.
I believe Methanoid's got Amithlon working on an Intel Atom board with SATA - on paper that should be impossible! The point is that Amithlon is a funny beast, so some stuff that ought to work, doesn't. Some that shouldn't does.

Sorry, that's a bit of a wooly answer...

[tero]

What i mean was more to your interest AMithlon news some
posts above.

For the machines i got 2 up and running
k6 500mhz and athlon 2ghz

about the question:

With install and setup i got no problems on this machines, so do i need it?

[alpyre]

@Charlie:
Ooh I got the question... Can I answer it...

@tero
Even if you don't think installing this new stuff, it is still a must have to keep somewhere in your drawer.

Please just check your PM...

[arti]

I have compiled new kernel using aminet diff file.

Unfortunately it doesn't work. I replaced kern310 with new and get 'invalid kernel'.

I think I did everything correct:
- apply patches
- make
- have to add -fno-stack-protector because I get 'undefined references to _stackchk' (don't remember correctly), anyway I think that is not reason of not working
- fixed probably a typo on line 1266 in setup.c lastfound1 to lastfound

And that's it, quite easy isn't it? Compiled under ubuntu 9.04. GCC was preinstalled.

Maybe someone more experienced can tell what he thinks?

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by arti

I have compiled new kernel using aminet diff file.

Unfortunately it doesn't work. I replaced kern310 with new and get 'invalid kernel'.

I think I did everything correct:

Maybe someone more experienced can tell what he thinks?

1) I think you are brave
2) I think you are to be admired
3) I'd post on Yahoo Amithlon-Open but don't expect much response
4) PM me and I'll give you Gary Colville's email so he can ignore your polite emails like he ignores mine

Originally Posted by Charlie

I believe Methanoid's got Amithlon working on an Intel Atom board with SATA - on paper that should be impossible! The point is that Amithlon is a funny beast, so some stuff that ought to work, doesn't. Some that shouldn't does.

Intel Atom board - tick
Intel 945GC board - tick
Intel P31/G31 - tick
Intel G41 - tick

More to come...

[tero]

Originally Posted by arti

Compiled under ubuntu 9.04. GCC was preinstalled.

Found some time ago on german board: you need an older gcc.
Only named Linux which includes usable gcc was CentOS 3.9,
Find here:
http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Syste...-3-29290.shtml

They said it compile without problems.

@alpyre
Seen...THX