Booting into Amix from AmigaOS

[tohtoris]

Hi!

Has anyone been able to get this unix_boot program from aminet to work and actually managed to boot into Amiga Unix from AmigaOS http://aminet.net/package/misc/unix/unix_boot

I have a boot menu where I can boot into AmigaOS, Debian, Openbsd etc. and I´m trying to add Amix as one option, but I have not been able to get this to work.

I´m running OS 3.1 on a a3000. Amiga Unix runs just fine if I select the boot partition from kickstart bootmenu. I have copied the unix kernel file to AmigaOS partition, but when I run the unix_boot executable (unix_boot unix) it typically just freezes the system. Just once I´ve seen it to enter the Amiga Unix boot, just to see it Kernel Panic. Anyone here tried this one out?

[BastyCDGS]

Originally Posted by tohtoris

I´m running OS 3.1 on a a3000. Amiga Unix runs just fine if I select the boot partition from kickstart bootmenu. I have copied the unix kernel file to AmigaOS partition, but when I run the unix_boot executable (unix_boot unix) it typically just freezes the system. Just once I´ve seen it to enter the Amiga Unix boot, just to see it Kernel Panic. Anyone here tried this one out?

Not really sure, if this could be the issue. But the readme from unix_boot states to boot from an ELF-based kernel.

However, I'm not sure if AMIX kernel is ELF-based.

If not, maybe try to convert the file to ELF format (if possible) and try again.

[tech3475]

Maybe try bootctrl?

I've tried it in WinUAE to change Amiga OS versions, but I haven't tried it with Amix.

[tohtoris]

Originally Posted by BastyCDGS

Not really sure, if this could be the issue. But the readme from unix_boot states to boot from an ELF-based kernel.

However, I'm not sure if AMIX kernel is ELF-based.

If not, maybe try to convert the file to ELF format (if possible) and try again.

Thanks for the reply! According to the endless wisdom of Wikipedia, ELF kernel was introduced with SVR4 which Amiga Unix is, so I guess it actually might be an elf-kernel. The readme quite clearly states that the unix_boot software is meant for booting Amiga unix and has references to SVR4 files for compiling so I doubt that the Kernel format is the main issue.

Originally Posted by tech3475

Maybe try bootctrl?

I've tried it in WinUAE to change Amiga OS versions, but I haven't tried it with Amix.

Thanks. Haven´t tried this one before. According to the description it does not sound right, but maybe I´ll take a closer look what´s in the archive at some point.

Currently I´m using amigabootselector for my multiboot setup.

[tech3475]

Originally Posted by tohtoris

Thanks. Haven´t tried this one before. According to the description it does not sound right, but maybe I´ll take a closer look what´s in the archive at some point.

Currently I´m using amigabootselector for my multiboot setup.

Ignore the brief description, I made the same mistake but Kolla’s recommendation made me look closer and it does more than just force VGA mode if you read the guide inside the lha file.

[BastyCDGS]

Originally Posted by tohtoris

Thanks for the reply! According to the endless wisdom of Wikipedia, ELF kernel was introduced with SVR4 which Amiga Unix is, so I guess it actually might be an elf-kernel. The readme quite clearly states that the unix_boot software is meant for booting Amiga unix and has references to SVR4 files for compiling so I doubt that the Kernel format is the main issue.

You can verify if it's in ELF format by checking if the first 4 bytes of the file are 0x7F 0x45 0x4C 0x46 (i.e. 0x7F + ELF as string).

See also: Executable and Linkable Format - Wikipedia.

[tohtoris]

Originally Posted by BastyCDGS

You can verify if it's in ELF format by checking if the first 4 bytes of the file are 0x7F 0x45 0x4C 0x46 (i.e. 0x7F + ELF as string).

See also: Executable and Linkable Format - Wikipedia.

The file command indicates that it is ELF binary

bash# file unix
unix:		ELF 32-bit MSB relocatable M68000 Version 1