I have just installed Amithlon on an unused and discarded 1.2 GHz PC I had in storage. Actually the credit for the installation must go to Robert and Mick of Total Amiga and SEAL fame.

I bought the Amithlon CD-ROM many years ago when it was freely available for purchase. Apart from putting the disk in the PC CD drive and booting Amiga OS from the CD I never really did anything with it. Official support for Amithlon was cancelled and my CD was forgotten. I starting using WinUAE and Amiga Forever and more recently the excellent AmiKit package. However, I've always wanted to boot directly into AmigaOS without all the Windows overhead. I know many posters use Amithlon systems as their main Classic Amiga and even Total Amiga magazine is created on one such system.

I'm afraid I have always been one of those diehards who didn't really want to see our beloved OS running on and x86 product! It wouldn't be a real Amiga and x86 cpu's are for the devil's OS. I am fully committed to the current OS4.0 development and have recently become a beta tester myself and do my best in my own small way to promote the continued support and development of OS4.0. I am also a collector of classic Amiga computers and am always interested in adding to my Amiga experience.

After a conversation with Robert and Mick at a recent Amiga get together and Curry evening (yum!) it was agreed they would install my Amithlon copy on my spare Tiny PC (~2000 vintage?). The first problem they encountered was a faulty HDD, and I remembered that the drive had indeed been flaky before the PC was put into storage. However after a new drive was installed the Amithlon installation when smoothly (easy for me to say). The Amitlon PC was returned to me on Friday and the first thing I did was to peel the Windows authorisation certificate off the case.

I have had fun using the system for a few days now and have been busy installing some of my Amiga software. I sent a payment for the Poseidon license and I'm just waiting for my key file to fully release the power of this excellent USB stack. I also made a donation to ArakAttack. The only real problem I have is that a music CD will not play through my external speaking, although it works fine with headphone. I have checked the CD audio output is connected to the PC sound card and I have tried another cable but still no joy? The AHI setup appears fine and AmigaAmo plays audio on the external speakers OK.

My first impressions of the Amithlon system are very favourable. It boots up very quickly and feels just like a "real" Amiga. In operation it is extremely fast, even on my 1.2GHZ CPU. In use it feels just like an Amiga with a very fast accelerator and graphics card. All is not perfect and control of the audio system could be improved but all in all I am very impressed. It's a real pity that the Amithlon development was quashed when it was. Who knows how things might have developed? Imagine a fully supported Amithlon Amiga PC built with the latest and greatest, low cost components. Drool! There is nothing worse than a convert to a cause!

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 01:49 PM.

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@TrevorDick

Glad you like Amithlon! I've been a committed Amithlon-Amigan since the day the CD-Rom arrived many Octobers ago. My brother built a couple computers for me to use it with (Duron 800 and Athlon 2000) and both have performed like troopers for years!

About the CD audio problem, try getting a program called AC97 Mixer from Aminet.

http://aminet.net/package/mus/misc/AC97mixer21

Sometimes the sound from the CD output is muted. Just click around on the mixer until you hear sound. This may fix your problem.

Keep the faith.

TJH

@TJH132

Is it possible to install Amithlon on any x86?

I'd like to know more about this and why it did not succeed.

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@A500

Because of the same old, same old.

(Licensing issues .. Nothing to do with Bernie)

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@TJH132

Quote:

About the CD audio problem, try getting a program called AC97 Mixer from Aminet.

Many thanks, I'll give it a try and report back.

UPDATE: Downloaded AC97 Mixer and it works well and has seemed to have improved the overall audio performance! Excellent!!!!!!

Many thanks for your help.

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 03:59 PM.

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

Now you guys tempted me to start using it too



I have the Amiga OSXL cd..is that another variant?

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A3000 '040@40mhz
A1200 '030@50mhz
A500+ '030@40mhz

@A500

Quote:

Is it possible to install Amithlon on any x86?

The following from Amiga History Guide sums up the Amithlon story.

TrevorDick

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@Amigaz

Quote:

I have the Amiga OSXL cd..is that another variant?

Correction:

The Amiga OSXL was supplied by Haage@Partners as part of the dual Amiga XL and AMithlon emulation package. I still have the orginal box that they were supplied in.

The following Amiga History weblink for Amiga OSXL tells the story very well.

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 04:25 PM.

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@A500 who said Quote:

Is it possible to install Amithlon on any x86?

No it isn't. Your best bet is with a (say) 5 year old PC, running around about 1GHz, with 256MB to 512MB of RAM. Gfx-cards can be troublesome, try a GeForce2/3/4Ti (MX not so good), ideally a GF2Ti for best performance. ATI Radeons may work, but I don't have experience there. Sound cards are tricky too, best is a SoundBlaster 128 PCI card. For networking, you need a real cheap PCI card (i can't remember details).

Also you'll want to use the latest unofficial kernel, as that adds *some* support for newer PC hardware. Installing that requires that Amithlon boots off the HD, not the CD, which (unless you are a Linux wizz) requires a copy of MS-DOS (or Windows 95/98).

Oh, and there are a ton of patches released by Bernie & others, but I believe Bernie stopped supplying his semi-official patches some time ago...

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Author of the PortablE programming language.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue...

@TrevorDick

Quote:

TrevorDick wrote: @Amigaz Quote: I have the Amiga OSXL cd..is that another variant? Correction: The Amiga OSXL was supplied by Haage@Partners as part of the dual Amiga XL and AMithlon emulation package. I still have the orginal box that they were supplied in. The following Amiga History weblink for Amiga OSXL tells the story very well. TrevorDick

Guess OSXL isn't very usable, huh?

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A4000 CS PPC 604e@233mhz '060@50mhz
A3000 '040@40mhz
A1200 '030@50mhz
A500+ '030@40mhz

@Amigaz

Quote:

Guess OSXL isn't very usable, huh?

You should be OK? My Amithlon CD has the following printed on the label:-

AMIGA OSXL

AmigaXL AMithlon

If your's is the same or similar that's all you need to get started.

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 05:46 PM.

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@TrevorDick

Quote:

TrevorDick wrote: @Amigaz Quote: Guess OSXL isn't very usable, huh? You should be OK? My Amithlon CD has the following printed on the label:- AMIGA OSXL AmigaXL AMithlon If your's is the same or similar that's all you need to get started. TrevorDick

Ahh..thanks

Have an old Dual P3 1ghz I might try it on..you know where to turn for help installing the thing? or is it straight forward? (just boot from the cd)

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A4000 CS PPC 604e@233mhz '060@50mhz
A3000 '040@40mhz
A1200 '030@50mhz
A500+ '030@40mhz

@Amigaz

Quote:

Have an old Dual P3 1ghz I might try it on..you know where to turn for help installing the thing? or is it straight forward? (just boot from the cd)

I cheated and had Robert&Mick(TA/Seal) install it for me!

However you might find the following Website useful.

Update: try these sites also:-

Amithlon Installtion Guide
H&P FAQ

Good luck.

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 06:37 PM.
Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 06:14 PM.

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@Amigaz

Quote:

Amigaz wrote: Guess OSXL isn't very usable, huh?

It's kind of pointless, WinUAE on Windows is faster, better supported (HW&SW) and has more features. I guess if you were using QNX anyway though...

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@TrevorDick

Hmmm, so Amiga Inc help prevent this from going forward. Another Amiga product dead. Hmm, what do they actually sell? Do people buy the games on their site?

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@ChrisH

Quote:

No it isn't. Your best bet is with a (say) 5 year old PC, running around about 1GHz, with 256MB to 512MB of RAM.

Nah, while there were some reports that Amithlon works also
on Athlon64 machines it really runs fine on AthlonXP's.

What I currently use is a NForce2 board with an AthlonXP 2400+ from MSI.
"MSI MS-6570 K7N2-Delta"
Yes, dropped out of the shelf sometime ago as well, that made
it a bit cheaper on EBay.
Before that I used an "Elitegroup K7VZA 3.0".

And I have 1 GB of memory installed with no problem at all.
Okay, I am also using the very latest kernel.

Quote:

Gfx-cards can be troublesome, try a GeForce2/3/4Ti (MX not so good), ideally a GF2Ti for best performance. ATI Radeons may work, but I don't have experience there.

Nope, GeForce4TI should be best now, I have a TI4200.
FX-cards are supposed to work with the latest kernel but a FX5900 failed
here to boot with Amithlon.

Quote:

Sound cards are tricky too, best is a SoundBlaster 128 PCI card.

AC97 onboard mostly is fine, well, has been for me.

Quote:

For networking, you need a real cheap PCI card (i can't remember details).

While you *can* use a real chep RTL8139 card there are several more
drivers in the update3 package, I am using a 3Com card for years now
although the NForce2 onboard is also supposed to work.

Quote:

Also you'll want to use the latest unofficial kernel, as that adds *some* support for newer PC hardware. Installing that requires that Amithlon boots off the HD, not the CD, which (unless you are a Linux wizz) requires a copy of MS-DOS (or Windows 95/98).

You don't need MS-DOS, just something you can boot from.
There are free DOS bootdisks on the net.
I am booting Amithlon from a USB-stick now, was a little tricky
to make it boot though.
Before that I used a floppy-disk that loaded the kernel from my W$N-HD.

But one thing, it's definately way better to have a dedicated
whole HD for Amithlon than to fiddle around to create that
special partition on a W$N disk.

Quote:

Oh, and there are a ton of patches released by Bernie & others, but I believe Bernie stopped supplying his semi-official patches some time ago...

Years, it has sadly been years now.

Have fun - Rudolph

Last edited by Shadowolf on 05-Mar-2007 at 08:19 PM.

@Shadowolf

Thanks for the heads up Rudolph. Much appreciated!

TrevorDick

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'

@T_Bone

Quote:

It's kind of pointless, WinUAE on Windows is faster, better supported (HW&SW) and has more features. I guess if you were using QNX anyway though...

Totally wrong. Amithlon is way faster than WinUAE. I've been using it for years (actually until I get my AmigaOne XE) and I know the system. I was even disapointed by Petunia regading Amithon JIT emulation (OS4 Final has corrected this point).

Actually, to use Amithlon, use for example an Athon 3000+ (since it is still 32Bits) with a GeForce 3 TI200, A 8139 ethernet chip and an AC97 chip for the sound. All this with the latest kernel from Gary Colville and you'll get an impressively fast 68k Amiga, and overall very stable once well configured.

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AmigaONE X1000, 2GB, Sapphire Radeon HD 7700
FPGA Replay + DB 68060 at 85Mhz

@TrevorDick

I'd love to use Amithlon. I think I got it after they quit officially supportin ghte thing, and have never been able to actually run it. Something about my PC makes it unhappy and it hangs during boot of the CD. I get the boing logo, and it says somethign about smallram and bigram or something like that, and stops. I don't know how to install everything manually and then try one of the newer kernels instead of the kernel on CD, as the newer ones might be more compatible. Alas, I'm unable to use it on my laptop or desktop, and I seem to have wasted money on Amithlon.

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@K-L

Quote:

Amithlon is way faster than WinUAE.

I've got to agree with you there. My installation on a 1.2Ghz CPU is very speedy and feels very much like a much faster version of an Amiga with a CVPPC060 and Cvision PPC board. I have not yet had the chance to install a lot of my Amiga classic programs but I'm let to believe that progams that run with the CVPPC card will also work on the Amithlon system (but faster)? But IMHO the biggest difference is it feels more like an Amiga compared to WinUAE running under Windows! Very subjective I know.

TrevorDick

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No, I don't need no reason, I'm just breezin'