Amithlon Setup Guide

[Roman]

Btw, would like to have miami working for DHCP,not the demo....
Are there any resources?

[Roman]

Amithlon is a must, indeed!

I enjoy it working with amiga on a really fast machine!

Its just:

P3 256 MB RAM Asus VIA Chipset Nvidia 4200Ti

Great!

I'm looking forward to using Dpaint, Mathvision and other fractal softs....

[Roman]

Gfx changed also, success!

Refining system.......

Thx for your support, and....your guide is the right one!

[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.

Have fun.

PS
Your system is a perfectly good one for Amithlon...
...more speed? Get a supported socket A mobo (nForce2 most likely). Plug in a fast AthlonXP(-M) add 512mb of DDR500(+) ram, ramp up the clock rates & see it fly!

PPS
BTW: I'm not sure DPaint will work on Amithlon without much fiddling. (Lack of Chipset support) TVPaint is amazingly good, free, & loves Amithlon's power. (It was a £400.00+ package I believe)

[Roman]

Guess I've got a lot to do the next days....

Thx for your help and the most detailed description!

Have fun too!

Roman.

"Don't forget RaMithlon (speeds up memory a lot! - may as well make the fastest Amiga faster)"

G'day all, just joined the list and am going to try and ressurect my Amithlon system. I seem to remember RaMithlon caused me some strange errors in renders when using Cinema4D. Didn't seem to affect anything else that I can recall.

I've just downloaded the guide...not sure if i'll do the tour of the house or just skip to the end just yet, but i'll see how I go....

Cheers,
Pete.

[Charlie]

Welcome to the EAB - There's plenty for you do do here.
I hope you enjoy yor stay.

Ah, another amithlon convert.

Yes, I agree RaMithlon is well worth it - a tip in case you don't know:
Running an AMD processor? use without arguments
Running with an Intel chip? check the docs for the arguments to start it with - will help stability.

My guide:
I've been meaning to update it for months (and the included files) but never quite got round to it...
...there's quite a bit in this thread worth paying attention to for 'wrinkles'. Oh, yes - Amithlon will manage Warp3D.

I guess you're not an Amithlon newbie, but any help I can give let me know.

The guide has been written to follow & I admit takes a few deliberate detours to help familiarise users with the system - may be worth reading through before taking your own path...
...if you have any suggestions please say so - they'll all get incorporated into the next update - honest!

Regards.

Hello everybody !

That's my first post, and I think I've got to introduce myself quickly. So, I can say I'm a french Amiga user (sorry if my english isn't very good) who started with an A600 in 1992, then I bought a wonderfull 1200 I've discovered Amithlon in 2002/2003, and I was very impressed ! Booting on this CD makes my ugly PC a wonderfull Amiga, even faster than my 1200 with a Blizzard 68060 ! What kind of magic could it be...

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...

[alphonsus]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

remember AMIGAZ

if there are no pics..... it didn't happen!

I wanna see pics!

You always want to see pics, Zetr0!

[alpyre]

Hi Amigans, hi all great fellows.

Welcome rZool (and me too )

I also used to be a dedicated Amiga User in nineties.

I am back again in the scene, recently I have learned about Amithlon. And by coincidence (or faith) my old PC happened to have all the best hardware suitable for Amithlon.
For two weeks I am into it. I have done a great job (thanks a lot Charlie, I couldn't do it without your Guide). Now it has come to the level of exchanging my WindowsXP in daily use.

I was also thinking of writing an installer script that would do all necessary updates for a useful Amithlon OS.

Maybe we can share ideas. rZool, please feel free to contact me.

[Charlie]

Hi rZool, Hi alpyre.

Welcome to the EAB chaps - I hope you enjoy your stay, there's plenty to do here.

Ahhh, Amithlon updates - yummy!

Puts me to shame for not updating my guide in so long - I'm glad it's proving useful.

Funny isn't it? - Classic AmigaOS is considered 'retro-land' only these days, but it's amazing how useful it & it's anchient software can still be with a good dollop of grunt behind it. I agree: AmigaOS + Amithlon makes for a perfectly useful day-to-day setup - oh for more development, one does need to resort to XP for some stuff.

[alpyre]

Hi Charlie, the Amithlon GURU

I need your help right now. I have written an Amithlon install Guide in Turkish for the Amigans here (mostly referring from your guide)*.

Now I want to have an Amithlon Bootable CD with the Gary's Kernel 3.10. (by having that, I'll be able to test the latest kernel easily on different hardware)

AmithlonCD.lha at Aminet didn't work. I have succesfully created the cdrom iso (followed the instructions with great attention). But upon booting ISOLinux fails like this:

Isolinux : Image checksum failed. sorry...

Can't we make a bootable Amithlon CD with Gary's Kernel.

Thanks Already for the help.

*I refered to you as "Charie from eab.abime.net". I want to include your name in the references if you please.

[Charlie]

Hi,
Thanks for the kind words

Hmmm, building a boot CD...
...It's been a very long time since I've done that - I have to admit, being lazy once I've got a working setup I generally image the relevant partitions for transfer to other systems...
...a little fiddling with the GRUB settings & away you go.
This largely came down to my getting peed-off with modifying the in-built AmigaOS image that can be used as a fall-back for my own purposes - too much stuff to cram into too small an HD-Image. Not being a Linux-guru it got to be too much hassle to roll a new image from scratch...
...If my posts haven't vanished into the ether years ago, I posted a tutorial on the Amithlonopen group on how to fiddle with Amithlon's inner workings from within Windows. For instance: Replacement HD_Image, modified KS image. (useful if you want the likes of PowerWindows NG or a few rom hacks such as Piru's running). It's also interesting to see what was nearly implemented in Amithlon...

...I digress. I'll try to dig out the important bits for you when I hopefully remember myself.

All the best,
Kind Regards.

P.S.
You probably noticed the sneaky way my guide leads the user round the houses as they follow it...
...a fair bit isn't strictly required but I did it to help aid understanding of how Amithlon works...
...whether you want to be as 'mean' to your readers is another matter - with understanding comes fewer headaches later on.

[alpyre]

Thanks for the reply.

To make things clear for me - as being a rookie in Amithlon, and these technical level stuff (yet) : are you mentioning that the problem with the error message is the HDImage within bigird.gz. If thats the idea, I can replace the bigird.gz with the original one on the Amithlon CD. I remember you said you've hacked it somehow.

Hope it works! (fingers crossed)

The questions of this student never end...

I was reading your post for extra tips that I could take (maybe I saw it in one of your readme's, I'm not quite sure) , I remember now you've mentioned we can integrate E-UAE into AmigaOS, (or something like that). What did you mean by that. And if we can, how?

I've downloaded the latest E-UAE, but all that I can do is to, run the UAE from its MUI interface, (it emulates 68020 on an emulated 68040 - total nonsense), and run workbench 3.1 on it. But its damn slow. I should be missing something, right?

P.S.: My guide is someting between a very detailed formal guide and your sneaky style. I tried to give the reader both the easiest/shortest way to get it work, and technical details about what they are doing, if they desire to read. It will be updated regularly too.
P.S2: So I'll refer to you with your nick name Charlie(Mouse).

[Charlie]

Hmmm, apologies.
As usual I'm causing confusion by answering a different question from the one asked...

...It shouldn't make any difference to making a boot-cd what ...ird.gz images are used.

From memory (getting increasingly poor) the included files in 'my archives' have a 'normal' bigird.gz. The smallird.gz however has a patched K.S. image - I think I shoved Piru's K.S. patch + the Powerwindows NG patch in there.

(I think I also made an unsuccessful attempt @ fixing the native Fat95 support - no biggie)

IMO: Piru's K.S. patch is more stable + faster than the 3.9 versions - Regardless, you can have both:
Turn off the relevant setpatch modules on boot for 'Piru' or leave alone for '3.9'.

Now, back to the problem:
-You *should* be able to use any bigird.gz image you like for a new boot CD. (not bad considering the default is a bit cr*p)
-Gary's kernel should work fine in a boot CD but there are a few potential 'gotchas'.

-I use GRUB (recommended) for HD-install but the isolinux on the boot cd uses lilo.
You'll need to edit the lilo config from the cd to match the equivalent boot settings for Gary's kernel for bigird.gz on the HD-install. The main trick is Gary's kernel uses much more memory than standard so those will be the areas to concentrate on. (Boing-ball stage of boot will fail)
-Next, you will have noticed that the 'native kernels' are compressed ie (...gz) while Gary's are not. I suspect this is where you home-rolled cd is tripping up - I suspect the isolinux on the cd is trying to uncompress the already uncompressed kernel & making a hash of it.
Two potential cures would be to gzip your copy of Gary's kernel prior to putting onto your CD or track down the switch (probably in lilo) that is telling the computer to uncompress & remove it.
-Don't forget: Gary's later kernels rely somewhat on the Amiga-side updates included in Gary's archive(s). Not relevant to your current problem, but may cause trouble if not addressed in the bigird.gz you intend to include on your CD.

FWIW:
If you haven't already; have you tried making a CD from first:
-The standard bits from an original CD just to make sure you've got the process correct?
-Used one of Bernie's later kernels prior to using Gary's? They are a little more system-friendly than Gary's & may still include (just) enough support for your plans.

P.S.
Don't forget to include a copy of SFS somewhere (possibly added to bigird.gz). Pre-installed if you're feeling up to it, or as an Amiga-side archive - your users really don't want to be using FFS on their HD-partitions!
Yes, I still think PFS is better but is a swine to install reliably under Amithlon.

I hope that's got you in the right direction,
Regards.

[alpyre]

Allright, great progression for me!

I overwhelmed my "bootable CD with Gary's Kernel" project. Thanks a lot for your advices. They helped a lot. And I have learned so many things:

1. Native kernels are not compressed. The emubox.gz is NOT actually a gzip archive. It's just named .gz (why? don't know)
2. Always try with the original files first ( as you adviced). And go buy a CD-RW for this kind of stuff. Don't ruin millions of CD-R's. (actually I ruined 4)
3. Amithlon_CD package is buggy. I doesn't even create a valid ISO with the original files. I reported the bug to its programmer via mail. (allways support the coders)
4. IsoBuster (of Smart Projects-WinXP tool) cannot alter ISO contents. So don't buy it believing in what people bullshits in forums.
5. Buy WinISO instead. It is only 30$... And I have a bootable AmithlonCD with the latest kernel. What a blessing for me... I'm so happy.

Now with this ISO I can progress much faster. I'm about to publish my documentation, at last.

My next projects will be writting installer scripts for all updates, and creating a fully Turkish locale and docs. Any help will be appreciated.

Now lets go back to my second question about E-UAE integration with OS3.9 under Amithlon (for having custom chipset availability). I supposed you have overlooked that issue in my previous post. Please please inform me about that.

Or just give me some clues or links. If I'll have to read thousand pages of docs for it, I will. I'll do anything to have that included in my documentation.

Best Regards and many many thanks

P.S: Of course I'm including SFS in my docs. (actually that part is almost a translation from your guide).
P.S2: I'm referring to your nickname in every bit I translate from you.

[Charlie]

Well done!
(sorry about the bit about the .gz - I'll blame my memory)

Installer scripts too, eh? Hmmm, It's a shame Amithlon is commercial software so I won't be able to ask you for a link to download your finished product...

Now: 'chipset integration'
Before we get to that don't forget to look further up this thread for Warp3D on Amithlon...

...oh, yes. Now chipset support is frankly a bit of a bodge & far from perfect integration but better than nothing.

1) You'll need a copy of 68k UAE - E-UAE for the latest bit's 'n bobs, but I'd recommend you use one of the older versions as they are MUCH quicker...
2) The 'trick' is to set up UAE to use your Amithlon's Sys: partition as it's own hard-drive...
...'but I've tried moving Sys: Partitions between UAE & Amthlon - it doesn't work! '. True - you'll need to add a few conditions to your system-startup file to check for what it's running on & take appropriate action with GFX & sound etc.
How you do this is up to you, Amithlon itself contains a utility to check for itself or there are similar utils to check for UAE.
3) So (after much struggle & swearing) you've got 68kUAE to boot from your Sys: partition - what next? Well, don't forget to add all your other partitions too. You now have a sort-of UAE clone of your Amithlon system within Amithlon.
4) Now you need to make a decision: How do I want stuff to behave?
For me the most unobtrusive way is to set 68kUAE to run on a separate screen by default - well a 'real' RTG Amiga would swap to a chipset screenmode if you run a game...
...again there's ways & ways but what I do is decide what apps/games are going to run with chipset support & alter their tool-types to have them run in UAE...
...You run your 'chipset app', it runs in UAE & flips to the 'chipset screen'. You can use the usual Amiga-like ways of moving between screens - I tend to have UAE run @ start-up so you don't have to wait for it to boot. You can even combine it with your favourite mode-promotion proggie for closer ties. Clipboard sharing should work too, though off-hand I can't remember if this needed extra work.

The advantages:
-With a bit of care + fiddling it works well enough.
-You're accessing the same install regardless of where you are so no worries about keeping bits up to date.
-Better than the real thing you don't have to worry about your chipset modes being slugged by RTG eye candy because this way you have the bonus of testing the environment on 'booting the chipset' so you don't have to have everything running.

The disadvantages:
-Far from perfect, though once it's functioning further tweaking will help.
-Fiendishly complicated system-startup file.
-Lots of memory wasted if you start UAE with Amithlon or v.slow loading of 'chipset apps' if you don't.

Gotcha's:
-A chipset Amiga won't want RTG or AHI etc drivers running.
-Watch your processor requirements: Older (faster) 68kUAEs are '020 emulators. Amithlon is '040 emulation - troubles can result if you're not careful.

Hope this helps.

Hi Charlie,

Excellent guide!!!!! but i got a couple of questions if you don't mind.

I'm having trouble setting up my Virtual HD. (I have a post about this in the new to emulator scene).

Also, I have done the procedure.. oh.. around 4 times now.. (The HD thing really bothers me, and i want to know how to fix that before i go on).

I did install OS3.9 (from the Amithlon CD), but when i rebooted Amithlon, i'm going into AmigaDos, and not the workbench..

Figure i screwed something up here, any idea what?

I'm repartitioning my drive (again) with xfdisk hoping that will solve the problem.. but if doesn't, or more likely... that i mess something else up in the future.. what should i do if i can only boot into AmigaDos?

Thanks again, and looking forward to your update of the guide.

Bryan

[Charlie]

Hello, glad you found to Guide useful - I'm horribly lazy I'm afraid, I should have updated it ages ago...
...Now if You're going to the Shell on boot instead of WB my next question is are you getting any AmigaDOS errors on boot?
Yes? Something's up with your Sys:s/startup-sequence file.
No? Most likely your 'Amiga' isn't seeing your Boot/Sys: partition, why?
In the shell type SYS:s then Dir.
-If you get a folder full of files type ED startup-sequence & use the shell editor to see if you can spot the problem.
-If you get a complaint along the lines of WTF? or I can't find... then your 'Amiga' doesn't see your 'HDD' - why?
-If both of the above seem fine it's possible you forgot to set your boot partition as 'bootable'...
...do the hold down both mouse buttons on boot thing to get the early boot menu & select what should be the boot/Sys: partition. If that gets you to WB then go straight to HDToolBox & tick the bootable box & save.
-Still no good? In the Grub boot menu select the built-in WB installation & boot that. Bzzzt? Time to attempt a reinstall - bad luck. If no Bzzzt then use HDToolBox from there to see if any of the above is relevant.

Best of luck.

Hi Charlie,

Thanks for spending the time to respond, both here and the HD issue i've had.

I'm pretty sure i messed up my startup file. And i' positive i set up the boot partition properly. I think it had to do with messing around with the Virtual HD install trying to get the right size.

I was not getting any error notifications.. i tried booting straight from the Amithlon CD as well, and it too went straight to the shell.

Anyways, after repartition the drive in dos, i went ahead and installed everything to my 58 GB (seen as 32GB) partition, and i have the WB pretty stable, installed all the updates, and got my ethernet card and internet working.... next up is sound.... then joystick... then attempt the 68k uae.. (i saw your post about having it run as a background page.. so if you don't mind, i'll probabley need some assistance on that at a later date, though i'm going to try myself first).

I think once i get to that point, going to try it all over again.. (and get the proper VHDD size).

BTW: i saw in one of the updates a Fat 16/32 update that allowed you to view the files in the dos partition... will this also work over a network connection to a WINXP machine?


Thank again for your help

And your guide was a huge, huge help...


Bryan