Amithlon Setup Guide

[milanca]

Now it is absolutely crucial for me to know what exactly you have on your board, which devices, their ids. That's why I asked for the `pcilist` output several times. If you can't make it on amithlon, any live linux on usb can be used just to list the PCI devices. Is VT8237 the southbridge? Network on many VIA boards is handled by VIA VT6103, but really need to know the exact devices. Definitely USB is doable on this board, and the network as well; the same you did with the audio.

[Vipersan]

So using usb I dumped everything in the archive into libs.
Still the same request for ixemul library 48
looking at the library content there is nothing specifically labelled 48 ?
But reading the included text file suggests re-labelling something...but I have no idea what.
A bit out of my depth here I admit.

[milanca]

Ok mate, no worries at all! You have a tremendous will, and you are extremely positive I must say. If there is no way around, I will build a customized, dedicated kernel only for your board.
Just try to find the label on the board where the model number is.

[Vipersan]

That is very much appreciated mate..

What I can tell you right away is that it is :-
EPIA -SP mini ITX mobo circa 2000-2005 EDEN platform
and here is a link to the driver CD I uploaded via a Vogons member Horun.
which might help.
https://archive.org/details/epia-sp-driver-cd.-7z

I will get a jewellers eyeglass on the board later for any info I can find.
I do believe it used a Nehemia cpu from memory.
catch u later...got some shopping to do..
Even old farts have to eat...
lol

[milanca]

Careful now please.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TM4...ew?usp=sharing

This is the kernel for VIA/Epia board only. Replace your boot argument to use this kernel.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10jY...ew?usp=sharing

Drivers that go with this kernel only. From `Devs` folder delete pcidrivers and replace them with this one. This is a preliminary version so we might go through several revisions. ALSA is problematic so try first to see if the sound is working. Then we'll see what it says about the network and USB.

[Vipersan]

picked up a couple more blank cds whilst shopping...gonna have to order some online..as these are getting scarce in shops.

Swapping out the kernel was straightforward enough...I just renamed it kernel4x ...wrote it to a cd along with the pci drivers.
Edited @small replacing kernel4 with kernel4x...and booted up.
this went smoothly enough.
now to swap out pci drivers in devs.
..and this is where problems started.
It may well be something I did...or maybe I just dont understand well enough.
I deleted the pci drivers drawer in devs...and just copied in the drawer you provided.
This may not have been the way it should be done but it made sense to me..
..a simple swap..
The first thing I checked was audio as this worked previously.
but it didn't.
but it looks like the options (device) in AHI are not there..
nothing to select under device...?
should just replacing the pci drivers folder/drawer have worked or perhaps they are in a different location ?
..thus not 'picked up' requiring a re-install of AHI ?
I am a little confused.
rgds
VS

[milanca]

I deleted the pci drivers drawer in devs...and just copied in the drawer you provided.
This may not have been the way it should be done but it made sense to me..
..a simple swap..

Exactly, it is indeed just a simple swap. So in your `Devs` you should now have `pcidrivers` folder with subfolders char/net/sound. That's it.

Did you restart after that? Need to run pciinsmod to see what it says, new drivers picked up or not.

/edit/

It could be that I f/d up something, sound related, as alsa drivers are a bit tricky. But make sure first drivers are at the proper location and what `pciinsmod` says. This is a blind compiling, I don't have my epia board at hand to test it out, so everything is possible ;-)

[Vipersan]

I shall ...have something to eat..then take another look.
If I mess anything up I can always re-write the Hard drive as I've grabbed a raw image of it..
clone if you will.
Overcautious maybe...but the number of times this has saved my bacon.

[Vipersan]

Finally got back to it..
Sound still not working...
This is the result of pciinsmod..
obviously an error of some kind re the audio
rgds

[milanca]

Ok, that's to be expected, it can be fixed though. But in the meantime can you check if your USB is detected because this update is about that. It doesn't depend on any driver but solely on the kernel.

[Vipersan]

Let me first say how much your efforts are appreciated...and how difficult it must be working 'blind' with no actual hardware to hand.
Now..as regards USB..
No different really.
I added 4 devices in trident...0 > 3
Then hit all online..
Nothing appeared..all failed.
powered down and fitted the NEC pci usb board.
rebooted..and in trident..brought 'all online' again.
The hardware was seen..and usb functioned.
rgds

[milanca]

Looks like USB controller is unsupported on that board. It's hard for me to believe it either but looks like that. Did you check your BIOS settings, USB enabled, etc ?
If you can search for the exact model number on your board, or take a close picture of the board (so i can do one more search as the last option).
If it is really unsupported then there is nothing we can do. That slot will be occupied by usb card and no more slots for video card makes it pretty unusable.

[Vipersan]

Had a good look on the EPIA pcb ..and no model number ..Just EPIA-SP in the silk screen rev C
Haven't looked under the double heatsink...but suspect removing it wont be easy..
I did take note of the via chips I could see
VT6307S
VT1211
VT1623
VT6103

The good/great news is USB is now working..
Your suggestion as to checking in the bios was where the problem was..
When I first cleaned and powered up the EPIA I checked the cmos battery...and as expected it was very low..so popped in a brand new one.
and set up everything I thought I'd need.
saved and exited.
When I checked about an hour ago..all the defaults had been restored ???
So checked the battery again..
zero volts ???
I'm hoping nothing is draining it...but put another new one in and so far so good.
The defaults turn off all usb...and ethernet but audio is default Auto..so that wasn't a clue.
I then returned to the original Kernel4 and original drivers file.
Which obviously gave me audio back..but better than that ..I now have USB ..
pciinsmod now sees the onboard RHINE network...but throws up errors....but it at least is seen.
I'll be checking the CMOS battery tomorrow to see if it too is drained.
I hope not and I can chalk this up to a faulty battery.
we shall see.
Strange that the cmos defaults are USB and Ethernet is off ??

[milanca]

Thanks for the info. You always need to check things like bios, etc.

Please download (from the previous links, versions are updated) both the kernel and the drivers. Sound cards drivers updated to a newer version (can't say for sure which version i used when I developed original kernel4) so hopefully it will work now, and the network as well. Let me know how it goes.

[Vipersan]

I will indeed mate..
I feel so stoopid neglecting the bios...but as I said..brand new 2032 about a week ago..
I've never had one fail before...but I guess everything has a shelf life.
But more likely just faulty internally.
I will be checking it every day for a week...before I will be satisfied.
cheers
Milanca

[Vipersan]

Quickly tried the latest Kernel4 you provided..
This version wont start at all...crashes ie reboots the Epia within seconds.
Doesn't even get to the boing Ball..
So restored the original Kernel4...and substituted the new pci drivers..
Only Sound and Network this trime..
The network still failed to resolve something and gave errors ...and the sound was killed again..
Restored the old drivers
Sound was back and of course still NET errors.
rgds

[milanca]

Ok, i will rebuild it soon. Just do not mix them, the kernel i uploaded here must go with its drivers, so do not use previous ones with this kernel.

I will let you know when i build it in a private msg. We are going to flood this thread, as we already are:-)

[Falke_34]

@Milanca
Hast du zufällig einen 3.10 Kernel Source der sich kompilieren lässt?
Do you happen to have a 3.10 kernel source that compiles?

[milanca]

Originally Posted by Falke_34

@Milanca
Hast du zufällig einen 3.10 Kernel Source der sich kompilieren lässt?
Do you happen to have a 3.10 kernel source that compiles?

No, only kernel 4 sources. You can build and use it as well unless you particularly want 3.10.

[milanca]

Could someone please, with a little amithlon experience, test out this kernel for me?
This is a base kernel, bare metal, with only required amithlon patches (no graphics).
You would need to have a nicely supported graphic card which can boot in VESA mode.

I'd like to know if it boots to workbench with `bigird` using /dev/ram0
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c45...ew?usp=sharing