Amithlon Setup Guide

[arti]

Hi milanca,

Thanks for answer.
I can't load emu10k1 driver because of wrong kernel version.

best regards

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by Methanoid

Milanca

I was feeling helpful since you've done so much for Amithlon users....

One here

And one here

Not cheap but they are both PCI and Low Profile (if you change the bracket yourself)

You're welcome Milanca I thought at least I'd have got a thank you!!

So, is there any real info about the max amount of memory that can be present on a mobo and still allow Amithlon to work?

My previous experience was that more than 1Gb gave issues but on my D945GCLF2 Atom with a single 2Gb DIMM it did work.

Wondering if a 2x2Gb system (Ion) would work or not. Any ideas Milanca

[Methanoid]

REQUEST: Any Grub2 users out there

Please let me have your Grub script entry - thats the file that Grub uses before you execute "update-grub" - that contains your Amithlon entries. I'm struggling to get Amithlon working again after 2 years or more away!!!

EDIT:

Originally Posted by alpyre

Hi Methanoid... you can find details in my QuadBoot document...
Anyway, the entry I use is as follows...

menuentry "AmigaOS 3.9" {
linux16 /boot/kern310 console_level=0 init=/linuxrc root=/dev/ram0 mem=768M vga=769 ramdisk_size=2310 leavepages=5200 cachesize=65536 
initrd16 /boot/smallird.gz
}

This sort of works.. I get the Boing ball but nothing else happens.

Tried replacing kern310 with emubox.gz and smallird.gz with bigird.gz but no joy

Do I need a "root (0,5)" inserted?

Worth mentioning I have USB Mouse and KB

[milanca]

Hi Methanoid,

Yes, on some motherboards, like yours, 2gb of ram works just fine in one slot. Thats great board then allowing you to use 2gb. If i am right it has one pci slot so you could hook it up with some supported pci video card. 2x2gb definitely will not work, period. Its not because of the kernel only, the core of the amithlon is done that way.
Regarding the grub, yes, its very important to tell it your amithlon partition. Do not edit the cfg manually, use template config files and create your new entry upon one of the templates then add and update it. Here is a great tutorial, http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub-2.html

Regards

Looking at a supermicro motherboard. C2SEE. Seems fairly decent and has more pci slots than my Asus p5KPL-cm. That and my ps2 ports on the asus board are breaking their solder connections. So to hell with it, I am looking at the LGA775 based supermicro boards now. Here are some C2SEE details. It seems like G43 and ICH10 covered by Kernel 4? Am assuming audio and ethernet would be covered in kernel 4 as well? In the event not, there are 4 pci slots that can be filled with working stuff. Not sure about the GMA4500 video in kernel 4 yet. I am looking at the 775 based cpu boards because I have a really nice Xeon 3100 dual core 3gz I will peel out of asus board and re-use. Any comments most appreciated.

FSB1333/1066/800, DDR3 ram
Intel G43, Intel ICH10
Realtek8111C Ethernet
6 x sata
pcie2x16 = 1
pciex16 = 1
pc1x1 = 1
pci = 4
Realtek ALC888 Audio
12xUSB2
Intel GMA4500 onboard video
ps2 mouse, ps2 keys

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by Methanoid

Do I need a "root (0,5)" inserted?

It can't hurt.

I think the correct line should be: set root "hd0,5"

I know grub is: root (hd0,5)

[Methanoid]

All sorted while the board was down... I've got a quintuple boot D945GCLF2

OSX Snow Leopard
Windows 7
Linux Mint 12
Amithlon
AROS (Icaros)

Now if I had a clue how to get an Amiga online or networked I'd be able to copy files from my network to the Amiga side.

I'll do a full post detailing it all for anyones interest and for my future reference. This is the 2nd time I've rebuilt it for fun and I always forget the key steps that make all the difference!!!

I had my netbook booting the same 5 OS's with a pretty bootloader (Burg) too so might try that again!

[Methanoid]

Stage 1 – W7

I think in my case I used an MBR hack to get it installed with MBR but GPT/GUID is also fine. Assuming GPT follow this to get W7 installed and then OSX
https://sites.google.com/site/nozycz...-and-windows-7

Stage 2 – OSX

https://sites.google.com/site/nozycz...gclf2-atom-330

Stage 3 – Linux

I installed Mint 12 64bit (Atom 330 is 64bit) but any Linux pretty much will do. I suggest not creating a swap partition but you probably can (just makes it more confusing with even more partitions). Make sure you install the Grub2 bootloader to the Linux partition NOT the bootblock or you’ll kill the nice Chameleon bootloader that OSX uses

Stage 4 – Amithlon

Important to note that Amithlon WONT work if you don’t change the SATA to Legacy mode (ie IDE emulation). I used Acronis Disk Director to partition my Amithlon partition as &076 (Amiga) so Amithlon could use it. Copied the Amithlon files (kernels & IRD files) to a directory on Linux partition called Ami in root directory. Customised Grub2 to load Amithlon (details shortly)

Stage 5 – Icaros (AROS)

http://vmwaros.blogspot.co.uk/

Likewise AROS won’t allow AHCI so you need to be in Legacy mode (but W7 and OSX will work still thank god!). Copy the AROS kernels to the Ami directory. Install AROS using LiveDVD or USB stick following manual but do NOT install Bootloader. Then boot into Linux and customise Grub2 to load AROS (details shortly).

Stage 6 – Tidy up bootloaders


Need to edit a Plist file in OSX to hide some partitions and rename others, set a default OS etc. (details shortly)

Finished/End Result

Pretty Chameleon boot shows OSX, W7 and Linux. Select Linux to get Grub2 and then either boot Linux or Amithlon or AROS.

Later

I’ll have a play later with BURG and a pretty bootloader for every OS.

[amigoun]

Milanca: Theres an openChrome project which would probably allow VIA/S3 accelerated graphics in Amithlon Kernel, that would be perfect for many older notebooks, which use that chipset. What do you think?

@Milanca:

Is it possible to add support to usb wifi chipsets (eg. Zydas 1211b) ?
which is the best method: linux side amithlon drivers or amithlon native drivers ?

Also my graphics card is Nvidia Geforce 315. Do you think it's supported in amithlon (eg. at least 2D accelaration) ?

Thanks!

[amigoun]

On one Amithlon setup I am forced to use Amithlon Linux side Audio Drivers. Now I realized when wanted to play CD Audio, that AC97 Mixer doesnt support Linux Side Audio. Is there a way to get CD audio with Linux Side Amithlon AHI driver?

[fishyfish]

re: RAM.

Something people seem to have neglected to mention (or perhaps didnt realise) is that using the Mem=XXXX arguement will mean a significant reduction in performance as it will drop the system back to single channel mode for ram access. The same is of course also true for just using 1 stick of ram in an effort to gain more memory.

[Methanoid]

ISTR the performance difference between single and dual channel Ram in a PC is around 2-3% isnt it?

[fishyfish]

No, not at all. The difference at times is huge. 20-30%, or even higher in the right situations. This of course depends on the software and hardware being used, but additional ram bandwidth is often handy.

My core2duo@3.86ghz amithlon box loses about %25 in terms of framerates using software rendered Quake2. Using software rendered Wazp3d is significantly bigger an hit.

There's a reason triple and quad channel ram was introduced over the last few years, even with the advent of 2ghz+ ddr3 ram

[Ratte]

Lenovo Thinkpad T41 Notebook
Pentium M 1,7GHz
2 x 512MB PC333
RV250 (FireGL 9000)
Intel 855PM chipset

- kernelpanic - (with 1Gb and 512Mb "only")
any ideas?

a1k-thread:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?p=571284

screenshot:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment....4&d=1352594278

[HeZoR]

I got a similar setup I can try it also.
Lenovo Thinkpad T42 Notebook
Pentium M 1.7Ghz
2 x 1Gb PC333
Ati Rage Mobility

Originally Posted by Ratte

Lenovo Thinkpad T41 Notebook
Pentium M 1,7GHz
2 x 512MB PC333
RV250 (FireGL 9000)
Intel 855PM chipset

- kernelpanic - (with 1Gb and 512Mb "only")
any ideas?

a1k-thread:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?p=571284

screenshot:
http://www.a1k.org/forum/attachment....4&d=1352594278

[amigoun]

Originally Posted by Ratte

Lenovo Thinkpad T41 Notebook

- kernelpanic - (with 1Gb and 512Mb "only")
any ideas?

Same results for MaxData Pro 8100X with practically sillmilar specs.
Probably unsupported i855PM chipset in linux kernel.

For me, the best laptop that can run Amithlon is Latitude C610 and probably C640 also. It provides partly accelerated ATI graphics with linux-side sound & net.

[milanca]

Hello,

Intel i855 and many other from the series are supported by the kernel. Intel chipsets are the ones of best supported. Some laptops have so called 'bios bug', in some cases being unable to map PCI space. I did some research on the subject and found that agp cards may have problems when run off i855 chipset at various regular linux distros. It should be investigated some more to see if it any override can be done.

Regards

@Milanca:

Is it possible for you to inject zd1211rw linux wifi driver in the kernel ?

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/zd1211rw

[lukassid]

Can somebody recommend mini itx low power consumption board that would be easy to install amithlon on? Thanks

Edit: I can afford one of those 2 with CPU on board.
http://www.premone.net/catalog/product/view/id/138100/
Intel or Amd
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0089GN9BO
?