@billt

Quote:

Alas, I'm unable to use it on my laptop or desktop, and I seem to have wasted money on Amithlon.

I know how you feel. I was lucky in that I had access to some expert help from the Total Amiga/Seal boys. As you probably gathered I am very impressed with the look and feel of my Amithlon system. It really does feel like using an Amiga. Maybe if there is enough interest a guide to installing Amithlon would make a good article for a future edition of Total Amiga?

Anyway my next project (with a lot of help) is to try to create an Amithlon Laptop. Wish me luck.

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 05-Mar-2007 at 10:27 PM.

_________________
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@TrevorDick

Quote:

Anyway my next project (with a lot of help) is to try to create an Amithlon Laptop. Wish me luck.

Your problem (should you choose to accept it) will be to find a laptop with the limited range of hardware that Amithlon and its variants support. But I think it has been done before, so definitely not impossible.

Good luck.

_________________
cheers
tony

Hyperion Support Forum: http://forum.hyperion-entertainment.biz/index.php

Amithlon is/was a cut down version of WinUAE, right? How come there have been no updates for the Amithlon approach?

Surely there must be more fun to boot into a 'real' OS, rather than 'just running an emulator'?

Or how about a mini linux distro and E-UAE? Witch one would be the fastest?

Anyway, soon AROS will be mature enough for using!

@tonyw

Quote:

Your problem (should you choose to accept it) will be to find a laptop with the limited range of hardware that Amithlon and its variants support. But I think it has been done before, so definitely not impossible.

There are a bunch of laptops that support Amithlon, you just have to look round a bit. I'm working on a kernel that supports the Acer 1360 and 1520 families - hardware accelerated graphics, IDE DMA, sound, LAN, should all work. Only the wi-fi card is a problem, but that's not something that can be sorted via a kernel update.

The Acers are a few years old now, which means they can be had quite cheap on EBay and the specs (AMD 64 processors and GeForce FX graphics) are still very competitive.

_________________
Who do you serve, and who do you trust? - Galen

@TrevorDick

Quote:

TrevorDick wrote: 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

Hey Trevor!

Glad you like your Amithlon System

I know i love mine! i do most of my Internet stuff on my Amithlon System my BBS is run on it & Very Fast i must say, myself i have an AMD 2800+ Sempron 120GB HD 512 RAM LCD Monitor 5.1 Speakers & OS3.9 System boots up in about 3 Secs which is pretty FAST also in the proccess of putting together a WEB SERVER on my SYstem which is a painful task :)

Anyways i'm planning on buying that PCI CARD that will let you run Amiga Floppys on Amithlon cause i have tons of old SW here that i would like to play around with.

SyperHawk

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Telnet:->amigaisland.cnetbbs.net (Down Until Futher Notice)
Telnet:->amigaisland.dyndns.org (Down Until Further Notice)
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@K-L

Quote:

K-L wrote: @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.

Wasn't talking about Amithlon, I was talking about OSXL on the same CD. It's UAE on QNX. On the same hardware WinUAE is faster etc...

_________________
"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you." - Oscar Wilde

@T_Bone

WINUAE is not FASTER then Amithlon trust me

SyperHawk

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Telnet:->amigaisland.cnetbbs.net (Down Until Futher Notice)
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=================================================

@TrevorDick

Quote:

TrevorDick wrote: @billt Quote: Alas, I'm unable to use it on my laptop or desktop, and I seem to have wasted money on Amithlon. I know how you feel. I was lucky in that I had access to some expert help from the Total Amiga/Seal boys. As you probably gathered I am very impressed with the look and feel of my Amithlon system. It really does feel like using an Amiga. Maybe if there is enough interest a guide to installing Amithlon would make a good article for a future edition of Total Amiga? Anyway my next project (with a lot of help) is to try to create an Amithlon Laptop. Wish me luck. TrevorDick

Yeah thats my next Project too :)

SyperHawk

_________________
================================================
Amiga Island BBS
Telnet:->amigaisland.cnetbbs.net (Down Until Futher Notice)
Telnet:->amigaisland.dyndns.org (Down Until Further Notice)
=================================================

@Syperhawk

Quote:

Syperhawk wrote: @T_Bone WINUAE is not FASTER then Amithlon trust me SyperHawk

See message #14, I said WinUAE is faster than OSXL, not Amithlon.

_________________
"If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you." - Oscar Wilde

@TrevorDick

I don't recall ever reading this post before...

http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/emulators/hyperionblast.html

I've typically have good thoughts and support for Hyperion, but what a load of short sighted ca-ca this message was back when. Yes, look at all those strugling OS's on x86 that no longer exist with no apps being developed..... Windows, Linux, MacOS.

Even BeOS lives on on x86. I think BeOS had a good chance way back when. I said years ago that BeOS would have benefited greatly if they had a native Amiga port that we could have loaded and tried on our Amiga hardware back when we still had enough users to make a difference. But I was trounced for saying so back then and maybe I will be again. I guess they were too rooted in PPC/Apple concerns to mess with a 68K version.

I assume that Amithlon is no loger legally available because of the licensing and ROM image issues? If so, I have a suggestion if it hasn't been brought up before... Give me a PCI card that will accept the Roms that I can pull my old Amiga. Load Amithlon with a kernal that will read these roms and then let me load my original Ami OS from floppies or CD. I'm off and running in blazing style with no extra license needed. (I think)

Plaz

@zevs
Quote:

Amithlon is/was a cut down version of WinUAE, right? How come there have been no updates for the Amithlon approach?Surely there must be more fun to boot into a 'real' OS, rather than 'just running an emulator'?Or how about a mini linux distro and E-UAE? Witch one would be the fastest?

Please refer to the following paragraph, extracted from Amiga History Guide:-

"The emulator, developed by Bernd Meyer, is based upon the authors' experience with the WinUAE JiT emulation, but features some dramatic changes to increase emulation speed (at the loss of compatibility). The slim-line ISOLinux distribution is used to boot directly into the Amiga emulation, removing the need for users to interact with a host operating system. This simple, yet effective change resulted in many users favouring Amithlon over AmigaOS XL as the emulation of choice."

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 06-Mar-2007 at 10:01 AM.

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

@Plaz

Quote:

I assume that Amithlon is no loger legally available because of the licensing and ROM image issues? If so, I have a suggestion if it hasn't been brought up before... Give me a PCI card that will accept the Roms that I can pull my old Amiga. Load Amithlon with a kernal that will read these roms and then let me load my original Ami OS from floppies or CD. I'm off and running in blazing style with no extra license needed.

You could also legally obtain the ROM images by purchasing a copy of Cloantho's Amiga Forever package.

TrevorDick

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

@Plaz
That link is pretty typical of Hyperion's stance. Hyperion have ALWAYS been strongly anti-x86, which is why (until VERY recently) x86 would not be considered AT ALL (now they just mumble about not having license). They wanted their own tiny market where they hoped to be immune from x86 competition, never mind that everyone & their granny (and even most Amiga users!) already have an x86 machine.... In essence, they didn't believe AmigaOS was better than Windows.

Now it is too late for Hyperion to consider x86 to save OS4 from a lack of hardware, so they are left relying on (lets be honest here) tiny/unproven companies and/or porting to a games console (PS3) as a last resort ((

grumble over!

Last edited by ChrisH on 06-Mar-2007 at 10:20 AM.

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

Quote:

Plaz wrote: @TrevorDick I don't recall ever reading this post before... http://www.amigahistory.co.uk/emulators/hyperionblast.html I've typically have good thoughts and support for Hyperion, but what a load of short sighted ca-ca this message was back when. Yes, look at all those strugling OS's on x86 that no longer exist with no apps being developed..... Windows, Linux, MacOS.

Statements like "a clear 64 bit upgrade path for the PPC family" only indicates that Hyperion didn't have access to (or didn't factor in) “SledgeHammer” and “Anvil” internal development programs. Anyway, in January 31, 2001 AMD demos virtual AMD64 simulator (1).

Reference
1. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_8366_7595~655,00.html

Quote:

The reason is simple: why would a software company invest money in porting its software to another x86 OS when it knows people can also boot into Windows or run an «emulator» like Wine or VMWare which allows you to run Windows software under Linux x86 at near native speeds?

WINE is not emulator i.e. it’s a reimplementation of Win32 API. WINE can run on Linux PPC or Linux MIPS, but it would be difficult to find a close source Win32 PPC or Win32 MIPS applications.

With dotNET framework, windows developers can develop applications for POWER64/PowerPC (XBOX360**), X86/X64** and IA-64. Coupled with Microsoft’s dominance in MacOS PPC office application market, this debunks the view that PPC can offer an effective shield against Microsoft. **Refer to Visual C# 2005/GSE examples.

Windows Vista (or any media extensive task) runs slowly on VMware. VMware is useful for developing business software.

Last edited by Hammer on 06-Mar-2007 at 12:08 PM.
Last edited by Hammer on 06-Mar-2007 at 12:07 PM.

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Amiga 500 (Rev 6A, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 3a/Emu68)

@DrBombcrater

Quote:

There are a bunch of laptops that support Amithlon, you just have to look round a bit. I'm working on a kernel that supports the Acer 1360 and 1520 families - hardware accelerated graphics, IDE DMA, sound, LAN, should all work. Only the wi-fi card is a problem, but that's not something that can be sorted via a kernel update.

That's really good news. I've just made a small donation towards your work.

TrevorDick

If anyone else is interested this is the link to the Amithlon Kernel Update information and donation page.

Last edited by TrevorDick on 06-Mar-2007 at 01:06 PM.

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

So Amithlon isnt possible to buy anymore? Is it possible to get hold of it anywhere else?

@zmurf

Quote:

So Amithlon isnt possible to buy anymore? Is it possible to get hold of it anywhere else?

I don't know how up to date this is but Software Hut appear to still stock Amithlon disks and Amithlon customised hardware? Can anyone else confirm this?

TrevorDick

Last edited by TrevorDick on 06-Mar-2007 at 01:28 PM.

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

@zevs

Quote:

How come there have been no updates for the Amithlon approach?

I believe there have been updates to support newer hardware and such.

Quote:

Surely there must be more fun to boot into a 'real' OS, rather than 'just running an emulator'? Or how about a mini linux distro and E-UAE?

Linux distro and UAE? It exists it's Amiga Forever :
KX Light is a GNU/Linux distribution based on a modified version of Knoppix Debian, specifically developed to allow the Amiga Forever CD to be used to boot a PC, if so desired

More fun? You know it doesn't really make that much of a difference. Sure it's likely a bit quicker to go direct but at the end of the day both will get the task done.

The one negative is hardware changes and invariably Amithlon has to be updated and patched for each new set of hardware it doesn't know about or isn't optimized for. Sure AmigaForever is a bit slower because of this but it allows you to use the brand new hardware the day it is released.

After all this fight on speed is a bit silly. Add AmigaForever or Amithon to any new $500 PC and either is likely 15-20x faster then your Amiga 040 system.

@TrevorDick

Quote:

"This simple, yet effective change resulted in many users favouring Amithlon over AmigaOS XL as the emulation of choice."

*laugh* Nothing "simple" about it, trust me :)

Actually, the biggest difference was not that the *user* didn't have to interact with the host system, but that the *emulator* was allowed to go around it. AmigaOS-XL was slower than WinUAE-JIT, and Amithlon was faster on CPU stuff, but not nearly as much as most people would have you believe.

What Amithlon is dramatically better at is *latency*, i.e. the time between the user doing something (like pressing the mouse button or hitting a key) and something happening in response (like a window opening, or a character appearing). That's because Amithlon handles the input hardware itself, and provides P96 with direct access to the video hardware; In contrast, UAE-on-QNX has QNX handle the keyboard, then send an event to UAE, which it occasionally polls for, then does its Amiga thing into an emulated screen buffer, which occasionally gets copied into the real screen memory. Lots of non-Amiga delays.

@TrevorDick

Quote:

You could also legally obtain the ROM images by purchasing a copy of Cloantho's Amiga Forever package.

Ah, of course. That would be easier. But are we still able to buy Amithlon? I'm off to have a look at that SoftHut link you mentioned.

Plaz