Amithlon/Windows install questions

[AMIGA-FAN]

Read the "Hard Disk install" guide on AMITHLON.NET WEB site. There you'll find the complete installation procedure and instructions on how to create an AMIGA partition, therefore a partition that will not be visible to Windows. You'll have to use a program similar to the Microsoft's FDISK that you can download directly from within the document itself. With that program you'll be able to create Windows/UNIX/AMIGA partition all in one go on the same disk by setting the appropriate partition type. I'm not sure if you can create an AMITHLON partition not visible to Windows (mine is a FAT 32 Windows partition and I boot up AMITHLON directly from DOS). You' ll also need to create a basic LINUX floppy which will let you start your system from a LINUX environment as the FDISK program will run under LINUX). This installation process is a bit long and time consuming but it works fine. Also, you won't need to reformat the entire disk as it will allow you to simply change your BeOS partition to an AMIGA partition without screwing up your HD.

Regards.
 :-o  :-o

[AMIGA-FAN]

"but is it possible to boot amithlon from a folder (drawer  ) on the Windows partition (C:) without the 10 mb boot partition?"

Well, it is possible as you can put the AMITHLON stuff in any drawer you'd want, as those files are basically programs that are to be started from DOS, but I would not recommend it, and you can do it as long as you are able to run DOS programs from a DOS environment, otherwise you'll have to do this in another way, say from within Win2000. As suggested in the HD install guide, it's better to have a small Windows partition (around 10 MB in size) where you'll put all stuff that AMITHLON needs to boot (i.e. the kernels and all other configuration files, EMUBOX, bigird, bootird, EMUBOXfd etc.) and dedicate the rest of you 20GB partition to AMIGA partitions. So, in your case, I would split your 20GB partition in 3/4 smaller partitions, one would be a Windows partition (for AMITHLON stuff) and the other 2/3 for AMIGA disks (System:, Work; etc.). remember that you can set up the partition type for each with FDISK. I'm not using Windows 2000 but Win98 SE and therefore when I want to run AMITHLON I just need to stop the Win98 boot with F8 and enter plain DOS mode, issue a CD command to disk G: (where I have my AMITHLON boot files) and issue a DOS command like:  loadlin @amithlon. This will start the AMITHLON boot procedure which will put me in an AMIGA environemt with no Windows OS running in background. Since from Win2000 you say it is not possible to switch to plain DOS mode, you'll have to find an alternate mode to start the small LINUX environment from within Win2000 boot procedure.

[AMIGA-FAN]

Well, if you don't want to screw up all of your programs and shortcuts, your only option is to use your existing FAT/FAT32 partition and create a drawer (C:\AMITHLON for instance) on C: where you'll put all AMITHLON boot stuff. Your old BeOS partition will therefore be used entirely to store AMIGA OS partitions, that can be created with the linux based fdisk program (boot your PC with the small linux diskette containing the fdisk program). I did not have this problem with shurtcuts and programs as the partitions I allocated for AMITHLON and AMIGA where phisically after C:, D:, and E: disks, so after everything needed by Win98 OS and after all the partitions for programs and data, therefore on diks F:, G: etc., so no disks letters reallocation and, consequently, no screwing up. As mentioned in another reply to your questions, you can kick the AMITHLON boot from, for instance, C:\AMITHLON as long as you can enter/setup a DOS mode from Win2000, otherwise your only option is to boot your PC in a plain DOS mode with a suitable DOS boot diskette, CD to C:\AMITHLON and issue the command:  loadlin @amithlon once you have properly modified the appropriate configuration file (amithlon) as to your needs (again, instructions on the HD install guide, particularly regarding the kernel file you'll need which mainly depends on the GFX card you have and the amount of memory you have in your PC). This way, Win2000 will not be running (and needs not) and your PC will be entirely dedicated at running AMITHLON. :-)

[AMIGA-FAN]

You don't need Windows to run AMITHLON. AMITHLON runs on its own and does NOT need any WinOS. You only need a Windows partition/drawer where you'll put AMITHLON boot files (boot loader, kernels and configurations files). That's all you need to run AMITHLON. It's up to you to decide whether you want to use "loadlin" as your AMITHLON boot loader rather than lilo or grub. I'm actually using loadlin which is, in my opinion, very simple and pretty straightforward to use/configure. These files (bootloader, kernels etc.) can be found on AMITHLON download area (download ALL files, kernels and patches you can find there) and extract all files from those archives to a temporary directory, for instance C:\temp. Then copy across only the files you really need (kernel and boot loader loadlin) to your C:\AMITHLON directory, that is the directory where you start the whole thing up from DOS. You'll have to create a DOS boot diskette to be able to start your PC in plain DOS mode (in win98 you can create an emergency diskette with which you can boot your PC in DOS mode should Windows get screwed up: this way you can sort things out and restore your PC which will put you back in business...). Once in DOS mode, you can start AMITHLON by running loadlin and specifying on the command line the configuration file you need for AMITHLON (the file is named amithlon and specifies the kernel you want to use, the amount of memory allocated for system resources etc.).  :-)