Amithlon Setup Guide

[towo2099]

He can't do that, because it would violating rights of a 3rd party.

[SnkBitten]

Originally Posted by jdog320

Will bernie ever release the sourcecode to amithlon?

Very doubtful as it's a mix of his and other's property. I'm not sure how useful it would be without the rest of the source.

I'd love to see him release his Umilator source though (Amithlon v.2), that was all his.

[SnkBitten]

In other news.....

For those using the Matrox G550 PCIe card we may have some good news. We've patched Amithlon to remove the 4MB video ram limit on Matrox cards. We've had 1600x1200 @ 32bit color working on a test machine with the Matrox G550 PCIe and availp96 reporting the card as 16MB.
More testing needs to be done, and be aware that the 4 MB limit was put in place because back then Matrox cards had issues with the framebuffer in linux crossing over the 4 MB boundary. This was Amithlon following with what linux was doing and forcing a limit of available ram. There may be some graphical issues/errors that happen with the limit removed.
Once more testing is completed we will hopefully be able to release a patch utility to use. More details as they develop.

[jdog320]

Originally Posted by SnkBitten

Very doubtful as it's a mix of his and other's property. I'm not sure how useful it would be without the rest of the source.

I'd love to see him release his Umilator source though (Amithlon v.2), that was all his.

Did you try to ask him in one of your threads?

[SnkBitten]

Originally Posted by jdog320

Did you try to ask him in one of your threads?

No, I'd asked him stuff directly through PMs with no response, and most of his thread posting are more directly related to things people either state incorrectly about Amithlon or technical reasons why things were done the way they were.

I'd rather see him occasionally add to the thread than to annoy him away. My friend assisting me with deconstructing Amithlon has reached out as well with direct technical info/questions, also with no response.

[SnkBitten]

Definitely doing more testing. This is not compatible with kernel 4 so we are looking to see if there are more incompatibilities created from kernel 4, as this works with Bernie's "new_emubox.gz" and Gary's "kern310" kernels.

Would be so awesome if we could find Gary's 3.10 kernel source code as all we have is the 3.00_test source.

Originally Posted by SnkBitten

In other news.....

For those using the Matrox G550 PCIe card we may have some good news. We've patched Amithlon to remove the 4MB video ram limit on Matrox cards. We've had 1600x1200 @ 32bit color working on a test machine with the Matrox G550 PCIe and availp96 reporting the card as 16MB.
More testing needs to be done, and be aware that the 4 MB limit was put in place because back then Matrox cards had issues with the framebuffer in linux crossing over the 4 MB boundary. This was Amithlon following with what linux was doing and forcing a limit of available ram. There may be some graphical issues/errors that happen with the limit removed.
Once more testing is completed we will hopefully be able to release a patch utility to use. More details as they develop.

[croupier]

Just got some time to play with Amithlon on my Dell C610....and noticed that while the USB works fine....it is able to access only the first level of the directory/folder tree...i.e. the root and the first directories/folders (e.g. amiga, movies, temp...)....

If I have additional folders inside the first level folders (e.g. folder amithlon inside the amiga folder) then I'm not able to see any files inside the 'amithlon' folder....it is shown as empty...

Anyone noticed the same issue on other set-ups? Don't have access right now to my other Amithlon machines to test...as I never paid attention to this....

[SnkBitten]

I've not seen that issue before. I just popped in a USB on my Amithlon system and opened the USB drive, the folder Remus, then the folder Modules inside that and then the folder 40.70(A4000T) that was inside that and see all the files. Of course I had to do "show all files" since none of the files had icons.

[croupier]

Thanks!

Will have to test more USB keys....just wanted to be sure it is not a 'known' system/software issue...

[SnkBitten]

Going through kernel4 and looking at what functions are defined for acceleration, I thought it'd be worth sharing. This may be well known information to some of the Amithlon "old timers" but interesting to others...

Acceleration options defined in the kernel:
(1)FILL_RECT
(2)COPY_RECT
(3)BLIT_TEMP
(4)COPY_RECT_COMPLETE
(5)DRAW_LINE

Acceleration options defined by card framebuffer:

nvidia:
(1)FILL_RECT
(2)COPY_RECT
(3)BLIT_TEMP
(4)COPY_RECT_COMPLETE
(5)DRAW_LINE

matrox:
(1)FILL_RECT
(2)COPY_RECT
(3)BLIT_TEMP
(4)COPY_RECT_COMPLETE
(5)

radeon:
(1)FILL_RECT
(2)COPY_RECT
(3)
(4)COPY_RECT_COMPLETE
(5)DRAW_LINE

voodoo:
(1)
(2)COPY_RECT
(3)
(4)
(5)

We can definitely see that overall nVidia has the most enabled acceleration functions with the Matrox and Radeon cards each dropping a different function. The Voodoo is the least supported and would be close to standard VESA framebuffer. I've not had a functioning PCI Radeon card, I believe AGP cards are the ones that work in Amithlon (based off a few laptops with AGP Radeon cards known to work). Matrox has both PCI and PCIe cards that work and nVidia has both AGP and PCI cards working. I have no feedback from anyone using a Voodoo card with Amithlon.

Still working through what we can, hopefully gaining more insight in to how Amithlon functions with as much specifics/details as possible.

[SnkBitten]

This goes out to those using and those who in the past used Amithlon....

Those who use it:
Why do you use it compared to MorphOS or AROS?
What do you like about it?
What do you feel is missing?

Those who stopped using it:
What issues did you have with it to stop using it?
Moved to another OS (MorphOS, AROS) and what did they offer over Amithlon?


It seems there are some standouts:
1) Hard to find compatible (new) hardware
2) Difficult to install
3) Legality of using it


I'm a huge fan of Amithlon. I love the way it works and how it feels like a real Amiga. The direct communication between AmigaOS and the hardware does give it a different feel than WinUAE (love that too). If it's possible to move it forward, we'd like to get a feel for what people would be interested in.

Again, looking for input on what makes Amithlon standout for you and/or what makes Amithlon not desirable for you.

The more feedback we get the better we can focus our efforts.....

[towo2099]

Why do you use it compared to MorphOS or AROS?

I use Amithlon, because i have byed it, i have found compatible hardware, it's really cool. I don't use MorphOS, because i do not have compatible Hardware. I have tryed AROS, but it's not stable on my hardware, so not usuable. But AROS i like much, if it runs stable.

What do you like about it?

All, the way it works, the speed, the stability.

What do you feel is missing?

At most, support for modern hardware. And it would be cool, it would have chipset emulation for AGA.

[SnkBitten]

Originally Posted by towo2099

And it would be cool, it would have chipset emulation for AGA.

That could create some slowdowns to the entire system so what I would be more interested in some ingenious programmer to make an x86 Amithlon version of E-UAE. The 68k version runs but I get .11 to .09 of an A4000 in SysInfo dhrystone performance on my system. I believe if someone could create an Amithlon x86 E-UAE version it could do a one to one comparison against an A4000 or A1200 system. You could setup app icons to launch those chipset apps in the E-UAE environment and then not have to have the chipset emulation running all the time.

[tero]

Originally Posted by SnkBitten

Those who stopped using it:
What issues did you have with it to stop using it?
Moved to another OS (MorphOS, AROS) and what did they offer over Amithlon?

A dedicated Computer for Amithlon is on hand but i don't use it because of the lack of space. I already have 3 computers a 4th one would be a bit too much. I miss Amithlon but i have a upgraded 1200er and UAE for some highend stuff.

For MorphOS I don't have the hardware and i don't like the look of it.

For AROS it's not really a question of Amiga or AROS. I had them both installed side by side.

I would prefer Amithlon over AROS and MorphOS (And OS4) but i would need it to run on my main system. Mainly because i don't have space to add another computer.

Originally Posted by SnkBitten

It seems there are some standouts:
1) Hard to find compatible (new) hardware
2) Difficult to install
3) Legality of using it

Install isn't that difficult, at least if you are using linux. You can just copy the kernal to /boot and install Amithlon on a 0x76 partion. Add the grub entry and done.

Hardware is more difficult. You can still find hardware but i would prefer Amithlon to run on my main system. As i said, space is the problem.

I guess with legality you mean sharing. I'm wondering: is it possible to load the kick.rom from outside the kernal image? for the workbench something like ClassicWB would be usable. Something where you need to provide the copyrighted files youself.

[SnkBitten]

Originally Posted by tero

I guess with legality you mean sharing. I'm wondering: is it possible to load the kick.rom from outside the kernal image? for the workbench something like ClassicWB would be usable. Something where you need to provide the copyrighted files youself.

Yes, it's not legal in any way, even those who bought it when it was released. It's slightly less illegal for those buyers, but a lot is still not licensed (Kickstart absolutely, AmigaOS I'm not sure).

Bernie has stated that he doesn't mind his contributions being shared but pointed out that P96, Amiga Inc., Harold (VMC), etc.. all have contributions to Amithlon that need to either be opened or paid in licensing.

So it'd be nice to work out a way to make Amithlon "updated" and as legal as possible, removing licensed code with re-written pieces, requiring the user to use their own kickstart, AmigaOS 3.9 CD, etc... A "new" Amithlon so to speak, same functional aspect (boot on x86, minimal emulation, direct OS to hardware I/O, etc..).

[Dunny]

I stopped using it because it wouldn't run on any of my PCs (and I have a LOT of them). Always the bouncing ball, never a workbench.

As for the legality of using it - I couldn't give much of a toss tbh. I pirated stuff like it was going out of fashion back in the day, so doing it now doesn't bother me.

[SnkBitten]

Originally Posted by Dunny

I stopped using it because it wouldn't run on any of my PCs (and I have a LOT of them). Always the bouncing ball, never a workbench.

As for the legality of using it - I couldn't give much of a toss tbh. I pirated stuff like it was going out of fashion back in the day, so doing it now doesn't bother me.

Ever try updating the kernel on a CD (with updated init string to reference the new kernel) and booting? My primary Amithlon system won't boot off the Amithlon CD as the kernel is too old but will if I boot an Amithlon CD with kernel 3.10 or kernel 4.

[Dunny]

Yes, was the first thing I tried. It's no big deal as I run Amilator now, which runs very well indeed delivering a blisteringly fast Amiga with enormous compatibility.

[UserH]

I've followed your guide SnkBitten.. And after a few days of set backs.. And not to mention.. Murphy's law.. I've finally manged to get Amithlon working in both Virtual Box and on some real hardware..

I've mostly gotten everything working on the test system I'm running it on.. however.. I seem to have encountered a problem with not being able to run the audio editing and MIDI sequencing program HD-Rec, on either Virtual Box or the test machine..

I have all the library files in the Libs directory it needs to run.. However.. every time I go to launch it, it just makes Amithlon instantly crash when running in Virtual Box and will also make it soft reset when running on real hardware, after a few seconds.

I've tried running under Kernel 3.10 and 4.. but it doesn't really make any difference what so ever (though in a strange note, any program that makes use of the CAMD library for MIDI seems to work better without making Amithlon reset or outright crash when using kern4)

Does anyone have any ideas on what I need to do or how I can get it running under Amithlon? I really don't have the money to be able to afford a real Amiga right now, weather it be a 68k or PPC one at all.

[SnkBitten]

I've no real experience with HD-Rec. What versions of HD-Rec and camd.library are you using?

I just downloaded http://hd-rec.de/HD-Rec/index.php?site=downloads (HD-Rec_010_Beta_Install.lha) and http://aminet.net/package/mus/edit/camd (camd.library) and after installing I was able to play some of the included sample projects. It wants another library for mod files but I ignored that for now. Added jpeg.library and camd.library to libs: and put lame in c: (all separate downloads) as specified by the HD-Rec docs (and/or pop-ups when launching it).

Played the sample file, pause, play....nothing else tested.

Issue so far......tried to quit and it seems to be hung on "closing camd.libary".

Replaced camd.library with the one from this package http://aminet.net/package/mus/midi/camd40 and it worked and was able close close the camd.library on quitting.