AmigaOS XL Manual installation instructions?

[dframeli]

I have an Amithon / AmigaOS XL installation CD.

I wasn't able to boot the Amithlon / AmigaOS XL CD on any of my 3 PC's.

I was also unable to boot the installation CD from inside VMware.

However, I already have a standalone copy of QNX v6.4 installed and running properly as a VMware "virtual machine".

Does anyone have instructions that detail how to manually install AmigaOS XL onto an existing QNX installation?

Sorry, I don't know much about Linux or QNX, so if you have information, please be very detailed (to the point of describing how to mount the installation CD).

With any luck, I hope to get AmigaOS XL installed and running soon

Thanks,
Dale

[prowler]

Hi dframeli, and welcome to EAB!

I also have an Amithlon/Amiga OSXL and QNX installation CD set.

I have been able to get the Amiga CD to boot to Amithlon on a Pentium III 1GHz PC. Also I have installed QNX followed by Amiga OSXL in the same machine.

It was a long time ago. In fact, it must have been shortly after Amiga OSXL was released, because I actually bought the PIII in order to run it!

I'll try to come up with some instructions for what I did, but it may take a while. All I can say for sure right now is that you don't need any knowledge of Linux to do what I did.

prowler

[dframeli]

Prowler,

I've had this installation disc for forever. At one time I was able to install AmigaOS XL onto the hardware I owned using the CD. But now I guess what I have just isn't compatible.

I look forward to your next response.

(I've been wanting to get an Amiga emulator up and running inside a virtual machine for some time now )

Thanks!

[prowler]

@dframeli:

Yes, the incompatability of modern hardware is likely to be your main problem. However, I still have the PIII system and QNX and Amiga OSXL is still installed on it!

Because you already have a working copy of QNX v6.4 installed, I will concentrate on describing the installation of OSXL into the QNX environment.

I am not at all familiar with virtual machines, but I suspect that the compatibility issue will still be a stumbling block, unless the virtual machine is capable of some degree of emulation of older hardware.

prowler

[Edit] I was also going to suggest that you read the Amithlon Setup Guide thread, but I see that you've already found it.

[prowler]

This evening, I took my PIII system out of storage and fired it up for the first time in over five years, and it booted straight up to the QNX v6.1 login screen and from there loaded up the QNX desktop.

I launched the AmigaOS XL application and there before my eyes was the beautiful AmigaOS 3.9 desktop, just the way I remembered it!

To compile an installation guide for AmigaOS XL, I shall need to install it once again from scratch. To this end I tried to create a second installation on the same hard disk, by hiding the original partition, but the QNX installer would not let me do this. It will only allow one such partition on a single hard disk.

I don't wish to delete my original installation, so I must swap the hard disk for another. I have several which will be suitable, and I hope to find time to get this done soon. From what I remember of the installation process, it doesn't take long at all. Documenting it is what will take the time.

I have decided to describe the whole process, as documentation for this is scarce. AmigaActive magazine was due to publish a guide for this, but the magazine folded before it had time to appear.

[dframeli]

Prowler,

Any luck getting AmigaOS XL reinstalled?

Thanks

[prowler]

Originally Posted by dframeli

Prowler,

Any luck getting AmigaOS XL reinstalled?

Thanks

I'll be on it in the next couple of days, mate! (I've been a bit busy lately.)
Watch this space...

[prowler]

Hi dframeli,

Prior to attempting to re-install AmigaOS XL on my PIII system, I have been reading my copy of the final issue (26) of AmigActive magazine, which features a first look at the OS XL package and the two emulators it contains. There are a couple of interesting points which I have not previously investigated:
(1) It is the underlying QNX real-time platform which gives AmigaOS XL its wide range of hardware support, and
(2) QNX can be installed under Windows into a hardfile.

The QNX install CD I have is version 6.1, whereas the version you have installed is 6.4, and the later version is likely to offer better support for modern hardware.

I have today downloaded a QNX v6.4 standalone installation and boot CD image from the official website ( http://www.qnx.com ). This is the same image from which I assume that you got your installation. There are other CD images for download which will install QNX under a Windows or Linux host OS. I may also download the Windows image later.

It occurred to me that an AmigaOS XL Installation Guide might be more useful if it is based on an up-to-date QNX RTP installation, and it will be interesting to see whether the new range of hardware support offered by the later version has been added to the existing support given by the earlier version, or merely replaced it. I'm really looking forward to finding out!

I'm going to try this on a new hard disk tomorrow.

[prowler]

Hi dframeli,

Today I burned the QNX v6.4 Installation and Boot image I downloaded yesterday to CD-R and replaced the hard disk in my PIII machine.

I booted the machine from the CD-ROM and began the process of selecting a new partition to install the software and hit a snag when it asked me to enter my license key.

I have now registered for a 30-day evaluation license in order to test the software, and we'll see what they charge for a full license when my evaluation period expires.

I will continue with the installation tomorrow...

[dframeli]

Prowler,

If you recheck the QNX website, you'll find that you can also request a perpetual non-commercial "hobbyist" license key to use that does not have an expiration date

http://www.qnx.com/products/evaluati...developer.html

Thanks!
Dale

[prowler]

Originally Posted by dframeli

Prowler,

If you recheck the QNX website, you'll find that you can also request a perpetual non-commercial "hobbyist" license key to use that does not have an expiration date

http://www.qnx.com/products/evaluati...developer.html

Thanks for the advice Dale!

I've just received my perpetual "hobbyist" license key.

It caused a bit of confusion at first when their registrations page realized I had enrolled on their "Evaluation Program" yesterday, but after a delay of five minutes or so, during which time I was wondering whether I had blown my chance, the email came through nonetheless!

BTW, I should say that I installed my copy of QNX v6.4 today and I now understand the problem you are having installing AmigaOS XL.

The AmigaOS XL CD presents the emulator as a QNX application installable from CD-ROM. However, when I got the QNX desktop up, there was no menu option for installing software, nor any means to access the CD-ROM drive! Is this the problem you have with the installation?

I'm wondering whether the 'Lite' version of QNX v6.4 is the one we really need. The full version puts the emphasis on creating applications for the QNX RTP, whereas all we need to do is run such an application. I was given the option of downloading the 'Lite' version yesterday when I applied for the 30-day evaluation key, but I wasn't able to find it there today. If you can find it, could you give me a link please?

[Edit]Found the link:
http://www.qnx.com/products/evaluation/
I couldn't find it by navigating the site while logged in to my account. However, I tried again later after I had logged out and bingo! I'm downloading it now, but I'm not sure whether it will be what I'm hoping for...

[dframeli]

Yeah, that's the same problem I was having.

I don't know enough about QNX (or Linux) to know how to manually mount the CD.

Once the CD is mounted, I think QNX has a explorer type application that we can use to run the installer. If not, there is probably a command prompt utility.

[prowler]

Hi Dale,

My new perpetual licence key unlocks both the full and lite versions of the QNX v6.4 installer.

The bad news is that the lite version gives the same problem as the full installation in that the CD-ROM drive is not visible from the desktop.

The QNX v6.1 CD I have installs a desktop with a very similar appearance to this katest version, but not only does the CD-ROM drive show up, but there is also a Software Installer menu item which can be accessed using the Launch button, which allows AmigaOS XL to be installed as a desktop application. When installed, a separate menu item is created so that it can then be launched in much the same way as, for example, the included Solitaire game.

You have the Amithlon / AmigaOS XL installation CD. It should have come complete with the QNX v6.1 installation CD. Did you not get it?

Originally Posted by dframeli

I don't know enough about QNX (or Linux) to know how to manually mount the CD.

Once the CD is mounted, I think QNX has a explorer type application that we can use to run the installer. If not, there is probably a command prompt utility.

I downloaded some documentation from the QNX website. I'll have a look to see if it mentions how this can be done.

It may be necessary to add some startup commands to the to the boot process. There is one small clue: during bootup, just before the GUI is launched, the message "Starting extra run commands" appears briefly. Maybe we just have to find out what the appropriate run commands are and how to add them here.

In my next post here, I will summarize what happens when I install QNX v6.4 on my machine, before I forget and so that I can refer back to it if necessary. Also, you will be able to confirm whether or not it is roughly the same as what happens when you install it under VMware, before we look for the next part of the jigsaw.

I just wish I knew why this latest version of QNX has these extremely important elements missing from the default installation!

[prowler]

This is what happens when I boot my PIII machine from the QNX v6.4 Installation and Boot CD and install the Software Development Platform to a new partition on my hard disk.

Boot from CD :
  1. FD 2.88M  System Type (0F)
Hit ESC for .altboot............................................................
................................
Press the space bar to input boot options or D to disable DMA...
Trying SATA ahci. Scanning for devices...
Trying EIDE. Scanning for devices...
...found 2 devices
Detected USB. Scanning for devices...
Trying SATA mvSata. Scanning for devices...
 
Please select a boot option. Option F2 is great for testing QNX compatibility
on new hardware without writing anything to the hard disk. It can also be
used for system recovery.
 
F2 - Run from CD (Hard Disk filesystems mounted under /fs)
F3 - Install QNX to a new hard disk partition
 
Select? F3
 
QNX Software Development Platform 6.4.0 Installation
 
This installation will create a QNX partition on your hard disk and
create a bootable QNX Neutrino image. You may abort this installation
at any prompt by pressing the F12 key.
 
Press F1 to continue.
Press F2 to set verbose (debug) mode.
Choice (F1, F2)? F1
 
Please enter your license key:
 
QNX NON-COMMERCIAL END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
 
[snip]
 
Document Version: NCEULA_v003_Oct2-08
 
F1: Accept F2: Reject? F1
 
Please enter the disk you would like to install QNX Neutrino on.
The disk must be bootable from your BIOS.
 
Disk  Device    Contr.    Size    Hd  Sect    Cyl  Drive Name
F1    /dev/hd0  EIDE      38166M  255   63   4865  ST340810A
 
Chose disk (F1)? F1
 
                          *** WARNING ***
You have a disk that is larger than 8.4 Gigabytes. The original BIOS
calls to access the disk are unable to read data above 8.4G. If your
BIOS is older than 1998, you may be forced to choose option 2. Newer
BIOSes support an extended disk read call that can access the entire
drive.
 
F1 Allow the QNX partition to be anywhere on the disk.
F2 Keep the QNX partition below 8.4G.
 
Choice (F1, F2)? F1
 
Choose Partition Type
 
Please choose a type for your partition. The default is type 179.
Choose this if you are unsure.
 
You would typically choose an alternate partition if there was data
on an existing Type 179 partition which you do not wish to overwrite, or
if you wish to use the QNX 4 file system (used in QNX Neutrino 6.2.x
and 6.3.x).
 
Power-Safe file system:
F1   Type 179  (not currently used)
F2   Type 178  (not currently used)
F3   Type 177  (not currently used)
 
QNX 4 filesystem:
F4   Type 79   (not currently used)
F5   Type 78   (not currently used)
F6   Type 77   (not currently used)
 
Choose partition type: (F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, F6)? F1
 
Your disk has room for a 38162 megabyte QNX partition.
 
Please enter the size of the partition you would like to create.
 
F1 Use all available space
F2 Enter a size
F3 Delete a partition
 
Choose (F1, F2, F3)? F2
 
Enter a size of partition in MB (min=1843 max=38162) [C = cancel]: 9540
 
You have chosen to create a 9540MB partition.
 
Is this correct?
 
F1 Yes
F2 No
 
Choice (F1, F2)? F1
 
Mounting filesystems...
 
Copying files to the new QNX partition. Please wait...
 
100% Copying core files to hard disk.
100% COPY /cd/boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs to /hdisk/boot/fs
100% COPY /cd/boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs to /hdisk/.boot
100% COPY /cd/boot/fs/qnxbasedma.ifs to /hdisk/boot/fs
100% COPY /cd/boot/fs/qnxbasedma.ifs to /hdisk/.boot
100% COPY /cd/boot/fs/qnxbasesmp.ifs to /hdisk/boot/fs
100% COPY /cd/boot/fs/qnxbasesmp.ifs to /hdisk/.boot
 
Recording licenses...complete
 
QNX Software Development Platform 6.4.0 Installation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Throughout the installation you will be prompted for the necessary
information. The default answers are displayed in brackets after
the question. If you press the <Enter> key, the default answer
will be used. After typing your answer, press the <Enter> key to
continue the installation
 
Do you wish to install to the default location of 'usr/qnx640' (y/n)? [y]
 
You have the option of installing a package of GNU Public License (GPL)
based programs for your target environment. This package contains utilities
such as GNU tar and GNU sed.
 
Do you wish to install the GNU Public License Utility  package (y/n)? [y]
 
Installing qnx6-host... please wait
Installing qnx6-target... please wait
Installing qnx6-target-html... please wait
Installing qnx6-target-gpl... please wait
 
The configuration information for this installation has been recorded
in the following file:
/etc/qnx/qconfig/qnx-6.4.0.xml
 
Press ENTER to continue...
 
** Installation complete **
 
Please review the License Guide located in /usr/qnx640/install/qnxsdp/6.4.0
Please remove the installation media then press 'Enter' to reboot

The default display setup is as follows:
Driver: svga
Color Mode: 64K
Resolution: 640x480
Refresh: 60Hz
Cursor: hardware

For the time being, accept the defaults. At the Login screen, log in as 'root' (no password necessary), and the QNX Desktop is displayed.

I found it convenient to optimize the display configuration with the Solitaire game running.

Optimum display setup for nVidia Geforce 2 MX400 64MB graphics card:
Driver: tnt
Color Mode: 16M (+ 8 bit alpha)
Resolution: 1024x768
Refresh: 70Hz
Cursor: hardware

Henceforth, when the system is shut down and rebooted, the following information is displayed during the boot process:

Boot from CD :
Press F1-F4 to select drive or select partition 1? 1

QNX v1.2a Boot Loader: qnxbasesmp.ifs......
 
Press the space bar to input boot options or D to disable DMA...
Trying SATA ahci. Scanning for devices...
Trying EIDE. Scanning for devices...
...found 2 devices
Detected USB. Scanning for devices...
Trying SATA mvSata. Scanning for devices...
Starting extra run commands

In my next post here, I will describe the features of the QNX Desktop.

[dframeli]

Prowler,

Yes, I have the Amithlon/AmigaXL combo CD and I also have a QNX CD, but I don't know if I created QNX CD myself, or if I got it from QNX.

Actually, I have 2 QNX CD's, one is in a QNX mailer, so I know that one came from QNX. Not sure about the other one... Is your Amithlon/AmigaXL a 2 disc set?

The problem with VMware is that I cannot install anything using the Amithlon/AmigaXL CD. VMware simply won't boot from it.

I have AROS, BeOS, QNX, RedHat Linux, ReactOS, and a whole slew of Windows OS's ruunning in virtual machines, but with this Amithlon/AmigaXL CD when I start the installation, I get a little text on the screen, then everything goes black as if nothing else is happening.

[prowler]

Originally Posted by dframeli

Prowler,

Yes, I have the Amithlon/AmigaXL combo CD and I also have a QNX CD, but I don't know if I created QNX CD myself, or if I got it from QNX.

Actually, I have 2 QNX CD's, one is in a QNX mailer, so I know that one came from QNX. Not sure about the other one... Is your Amithlon/AmigaXL a 2 disc set?

The problem with VMware is that I cannot install anything using the Amithlon/AmigaXL CD. VMware simply won't boot from it.

I have AROS, BeOS, QNX, RedHat Linux, ReactOS, and a whole slew of Windows OS's ruunning in virtual machines, but with this Amithlon/AmigaXL CD when I start the installation, I get a little text on the screen, then everything goes black as if nothing else is happening.

Hi Dale,

Yes, my boxed AmigaOS XL pack came with 2 CDs, a Registration card and a license agreement for the "AmigaXL" executable and AmigaOS, i.e., the box contained mostly fresh air!

The QNX CD carries the inscriptions "QNX realtime platform", "For non-commercial use" "get.qnx.de" "09/03/01" and "QNX Build a more reliable world", so it should be easy to tell if this is the one you have. (I can upload a scan of the CD artwork if you would find it useful.)

I think the probable reason why Amithlon fails to boot when you try it with VMware is hardware incompatibility, probably with the graphics card. AmigaOS XL won't suffer from this if we can get it installed on top of QNX v6.4, due to the hardware support it offers. I've had one or two ideas concerning this - more about that next time.

prowler

[prowler]

I've just found OpenQNX - The Community Portal!

On this page:
http://www.openqnx.com/index.php?name=Top_List
I found this:

10 most-downloaded files.
1: QNX 6.2.1 NC ISO image (Category: QNX Operating System) - (20622 downloads.)
2: QNX 6.3.0 eval ISO image for x86 self host (Category: QNX Operating System) - (11002 downloads.)
3: QNX 6.1 ISO (Category: QNX Operating System) - (6760 downloads.)
4: QNX 6.0 ISO (Category: QNX Operating System) - (5228 downloads.)
5: QNX 6.2.0 NC ISO image (Category: QNX Operating System) - (5223 downloads.)
6: QNX 6.1 for MS Windows (Category: QNX Operating System) - (4543 downloads.)
7: QNX 6.0 for MS Windows (Category: QNX Operating System) - (4491 downloads.)
8: QNX RTP 6.1 small ISO (Category: QNX Operating System) - (3947 downloads.)
9: VNC (Category: QNX6 Applications) - (1229 downloads.)
10: AbiWord (Category: QNX6 Applications) - (1169 downloads.)

On the OpenQNX site, the files listed are actually active links to the downloads, once you have registered an account!

[prowler]

I've now got myself a Registered OpenQNX account, and downloaded the QNX RTP 6.1 small ISO (28.54MB) and QNX 6.1 for MS Windows (28.46MB) files. I think the first file is too small to be the image of the QNX v6.1 CD that was included in my AmigaOS XL pack, and I doubt if the second is large enough to install the OS complete with GUI.

I now think that QNX 6.1 ISO (442.28MB) is the file in question.

I will eventually download this and the 6.2.x and 6.3.x files as my data limit permits in an attempt to discover how to get AmigaOS XL installed on a system more up-to-date than my 1GHz Pentium III.

[prowler]

Hi Dale,

I'm downloading the QNX 6.1 ISO image this evening to see if it's the same as the QNX 6.1 CD included in my AmigaOS XL set.

If it is, then you'll have access to a version of QNX which will allow installation of AmigaOS XL on supported hardware.

If it isn't, then I'll test it with my machine to see if it will install AmigaOS XL anyway.

If it's okay with OS XL on my machine, but won't install on yours, then at least you'll be able to see the feature of the 6.1 installation that allows QNX applications to be installed from CD, and we might be able to use this knowledge to find the best way forward.

prowler

[prowler]

Hi Dale,

Good news at last!

I'm not sure yet whether the QNX 6.1 ISO image I downloaded last night is a replica of the QNX 6.1 CD bundled with AmigaOS XL, but it will allow the Amiga OS to be installed on my machine in just the same way.

Downloading this CD image should enable you to install AmigaOS XL under VMware.

I am sure that an incompatible graphics card is the reason you cannot boot your machine with the AmigaOS XL install CD to get the Amithlon desktop.

However, installing QNX v6.1 should not present the same problem. Although it is older than the current version, so will not offer the same degree of hardware support, it does include generic vesa and vga graphics drivers which should (especially in the case of the vesa driver) give sufficient compatibility.

If you can get AmigaOS XL working undser QNX 6.1, then it will at least be one step towards getting it working under a later version with better hardware support.

Good luck,

prowler

PS. In my next post here, I will summarize what happens when I install QNX v6.1 on my machine using the QNX 6.1 ISO image burned to CD, and the steps then necessary to install AmigaOS XL.