Amithlon question

[rdolores]

I've been using it for a couple months. And it is great. It's the fastest Amiga I've ever had. In fact, I've been turning a couple of my old PIII-866-1000's into Amithlon machines. On a PIII-1000, it's about 10-15 faster than a 68060-50 using the DSPSPEED benchmark.

And also, lots of hardware is available, unlike for OS4.

There is a Yahoo group called Amithlonopen. I will try to put up a website in the near future to consolidate all the info on the web about Amithlon.

[rdolores]

I use it for surfing the internet with AWeb 3.5.08. It still needs a couple features of modern browsers like CSS, but it's faster than any browser on my Windows XP machines. Also, it's more immune to spyware and other hazsards since the Amiga is but a blip on the the internet.

So far, I have gotten it to burn CD's, play MP3's, MODS, and MIDI files, put it on my Windows 2000 network so that it can utilize shared drives and printers, and emulate a Mac (Quadra 650). I have also installed some programs, AmigaWriter, Art Effects, PerfectPaint DirectoryOpus and Bars and Pipes. I also installed some old software, ProWrite 3.2, DeluxeMusic2, Pagestream2.2.

I still have some more projects to do on it: Install TrueType fonts, a 3-D program (Aladdin 4-D, Imagine), some WB games, enable the USB ports, etc...

But this is as close to a modern Amiga you can get to today.

I do use WinUAE too. It's more compatible with classic Amiga software since it emulates the Amiga's custom chips. But in terms of performance, Amithlon blazes.

However, it does take quite a bit of tweaking. If you're up to the challenge, it will really payoff.

[rdolores]

As already mentioned, Amithlon does not support the custom chips. It is meant more for performance and is thus suited for Desktop Publishing (PageStream), Graphics (PerfectPaint), 3-D Graphics (Maxxon Cinema4D), networking, etc...

It supports graphics which use P96 and audio which uses AHI. There are some games that take advantage of these advanced features. But older games are best played using WinUAE.

I have my machine dual-booted with Amithlon and WindowsXP. For older programs, I go into XP and use WinUAE emulation. For applications that require speed, I go into Amithlon.

Several programmers use Amithlon to develop 68K programs because of the speed of compiling. TotalAmiga magazine also uses it to layout their magazine. I believe there are still graphics artists who use its speed for rendering 3-D graphics and musicians who use it for Bars & Pipes with MIDI.

In the AmithlonOpen Yahoo groups, recently, I was able to get help from both Bernie Meyer (Amithlon) as well as several others who were instrumental in it.

Gary Colville is still working on updating the kernals to support newer hardware.

Here are some links:
http://www.geit.de/
http://www.hd-zone.com/
http://www.haage-partner.de/amigaxl/support-faq-e.html
http://www.vmc.de/amithlon/index.html

[rdolores]

Amigamia,

Are you near the DC Metro area? I'm in Silver Spring, MD. Let me know if you need some help building an Amithlon machine. I have built several from free computers I've picked up.

I'm also interested in setting up a site for Amithlon support from my experience with the product.

I believe it's probably the best of the modern Amigas (Amithlon (OS3.9), AmigasOne (OS4), Pegasos (MorphOS)).

Like the other modern Amigas, Amithlon does not support the old custom chips directly. It uses retargetable graphics (P96) and audio (AHI).

But it is more compatible with most Amiga software since it can run 68k code using very low-level JIT emulation. OS4 and MorphOS must use E-UAE since they are PPC native.

Also, hardware is plentiful and cheap. People are getting rid of their 5/6 year old computers which are ideal for building Amithlons.

And finally, you can install Amithlon on much faster machines. Both the AmigaOnes and Pegasos machines are already several years old. As Gary Colville, and perhaps others, develop newer kernals, it can support newer hardware that the others can't.

[rdolores]

Thanks for the correction. It is interesting to note that the guy who made JIT was Bernd Meyer. His JIT code has not only been used for 680x0 emulation for the Amiga on UAE (WinUAE, E-UAE, etc.), MorphOS and OS4, but also for the BasiliskII Mac emulator.

This is the same Bernd Meyer who created Amithlon along with Harald Frank.

Piru wrote:
@rdolores

But it is more compatible with most Amiga software since it can run 68k code using very low-level JIT emulation. OS4 and MorphOS must use E-UAE since they are PPC native.

I don't know where you're getting these ideas from, but MorphOS has both static and JIT 68k emulation built-in. You don't need to use E-UAE to run Amiga applications.

My understanding is that the latest OS4 prerelease has JIT now, too. It had static emulation from the first public prerelease.

[rdolores]

I got this PDF some time ago. This is what I used the first time to build my Amithlon.

www.rdolores.com/amithlon/Amithlon-Guide.pdf

I used FreeDOS for the XFDISK utility. It should be a free download.

Later on I found out, you don't have to destroy your existing Windows XP partition to create an Amithlon partition.

I used Partition Magic to shrink my WinXP partition to make space for my Amithlon partion.

Then I used XFDISK on my FreeDOS diskette to create the boot partition and Amithlon partition.

JuvUK wrote:
a little off topic i know but, just how do you make amithlon hd bootable, i have tried following guides but its all a bit complicated for a newbie like me. Could anyone give me a stupid persons guide to intalling amithlon?
   thanks Juv.U.K

[rdolores]

Piru wrote:
@rdolores

It is interesting to note that the guy who made JIT was Bernd Meyer. His JIT code has not only been used for 680x0 emulation for the Amiga on UAE (WinUAE, E-UAE, etc.), MorphOS and OS4, but also for the BasiliskII Mac emulator.

Neither MorphOS or OS4 use Bernd's JIT.

MorphOS JIT (called "Trance") was written by Ralph Schmidt and Teemu Suikki. Some minor work on it has been made by other MorphOS Team members: Mark Olsen, Sigbjörn Skjæret, and myself.

OS4 JIT (called "Petunia") was written by Álmos Rajnai.

Thanks for the correction again.

[rdolores]

Richard Drummond has released a new WIP release of the great E-UAE. Check out the details and download the emulator from

http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/

It is E-UAE-0.8.29-WIP3. I've tried it and it works on my WB1.3 68000, 1 MB Chip, 8 MB Fast, setup. It has some major improvements. It's quite snappier (faster) booting up and loading folders and icons. Very stable so far too.

The only thing not working yet is the 68020 emulation, and he is working on that.

He is making great progress since 0.8.28.

[rdolores]

The latest is from Gary Colville. You can get them from here:

http://www.hd-zone.com/amithlon/amithlon.htm

He is also working some newer drivers.

You can also get the last ones from Bernie Meyer

http://www.amithlon.net/en/amithlon_updates.shtml

The 2 files you will need are:

amithlon_contrib3b.lha (Amiga-side drivers)
amithlon_newkernel.lzh (Linux-side x86 drivers)

There is also a file called AmithlonUpdate.lha which is a substitue for amithlon_contrib3b.lha. It makes installation easier since it uses the Amiga Installer.

You can also find more Amithlon files at Harald Frank's site:

http://www.vmc.de/amithlon/index.html

And here's a good site for Amithlon info including setting up a NIC:

http://www.birrabrothers.com/tiger/

Hope this helps.

[rdolores]

I just did some tests comparing Amithlon and WinUAE 1.3 on the same machine. I used two benchmarks: SysInfo and DSPSPEED.

MachineA: PIII-1000, 384 MB RAM
[color=ffff00]..........[/color]|-------SysInfo----------|  |-DSPSPEED-|
[color=ffff00]............[/color]MIPS[color=ffff00]..[/color]MFLOPS[color=ffff00].[/color] Dhrystones[color=ffff00]..[/color]PSA_I  PSA_F
Amithlon[color=ffff00]..[/color]707.62[color=ffff00]..[/color]287.60      [color=ffff00].....[/color]677907[color=ffff00]...[/color]1520   [color=ffff00]..[/color]990
WinUAE[color=ffff00]....[/color]370.33[color=ffff00]..[/color]144.10[color=ffff00]......[/color]354784[color=ffff00]....[/color]810 [color=ffff00].[/color]1170
[/size]
Looking at the numbers, Amithlon is about twice as fast as WinUAE on the same machine. The only exception seems to be in Floating Point calculations as seen in the PSA_F tests.

I came to the conclusion that for most tasks, Amithlon will be faster.  WinUAE 1.3 has newer Floating Point routines which explains its advantage over Amithlon.  Remember WinUAE 1.3 just came out within the last month or so.  Amithlon is almost 5 years old.  The only thing that has really been updated were the drivers.

I use both WinUAE and Amithlon. Subjectively, Amithlon is much faster. In fact, it is a more responsive OS than the Windows XP machine I have in the office which is a P4-3000 with Hyperthreading and 2 GB RAM. Even though I have optimized it (keeping it clean of spyware and removing unnecessary background tasks), it still has unexplained pauses, and sluggishness for no apparent reasons. My Amithlon (which is on a much slower PIII-1000), is much snappier: Windows and Icons appear immediately, I never experience any sluggishness. My word processors (AmigaWriter and ProWrite) are faster. Even my web browser (AWeb) is more responsive than either FireFox or IE.

I use WinUAE for its compatibility with the Amiga Custom Chipset.  It is amazing how accurate its Paula emulation is. I use Deluxe Music with both MIDI and internal sounds. The internal sounds sound almost exactly the way they do on a real Amiga.

But for software that uses AHI audio and P96 graphics. Amithlon is better.

I'm sure if Amithlon had continued development, its Floating Point routines would have improved a lot too.

But who says you have to choose between one and another. I have both on the same machine. It's a dual-boot Windows XP and Amithlon computer. And in Windows, I have WinUAE.

[rdolores]

With a little bit of work, Amithlon can support a lot of features. These are what I've tested so far:

Audio Support via AHI - SB128, SBLive, AC97
Graphics Support via P96 - NVidia TNT2, etc... with graphics up to 1280x1024 in 32bit color accelerated
NIC - Intel Pro 10/100, RT8139, 3Com905, NE2000, etc... running up to 100 MBPS
Serial Port - USR 56K Modem
Genesis TCP - AWeb browsing, AmiFTP, SAMBA, TCPIP Printing
Emulation - E-UAE (WB1.3), ShapeShifter (MacOS 7.5.5)

My upcoming projects include:
MIDI via Serial Port - for Bars and Pipes, and Deluxe Music 2 to MIDI Keyboards
USB Support via ArakAttack Poseidon - Thumb drives, Digial Camera
TV Card - AmithlonTV, ValiantVision
PC Joystick - NewLowLevel

[rdolores]

Nice site Mihcael. I also will be trying to set up an Amithlon support site in the near future. Here's a couple other links:

http://www.birrabrothers.com/tiger/data/amithlon/index.htm
It's incomplete, but it has a nic how-to for setting NIC's.

http://www.geit.de/
Guido Mersmann's site. It includes ValiantVision TV-Card support for Amithlon. He's on AmithlonOpen too.

mihcael wrote:
my www with some links to amithlon and aros!
x86 Amiga

will add all the links in this thread and others that i can find!

[rdolores]

If you can boot up to the Workbench screen, with the Amithlon CD, you have an excellent chance of installing it.