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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Software News => Topic started by: Fraccy on November 07, 2007, 04:08:57 AM

Title: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 07, 2007, 04:08:57 AM
X-Amiga is a minimal Linux environment for E-UAE. Here is an alternative to the massive overhead of Windows/OSX/Ubuntu/[other Linux flavours] - a sleek, fast OS that acts solely as a host for Amiga emulation. A CD-based installer is now available for x86. The website is: http://www.xamiga.net

Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: XDelusion on November 07, 2007, 05:37:33 AM
Awsome!
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: motorollin on November 07, 2007, 08:48:51 AM
AWESOME news! :-D

The download is *really* slow. I wonder how many people are downloading :-)

--
moto
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 07, 2007, 10:14:17 AM
Hmmm trying to install this.. but wont install GRUB correct .. ?! .. I'll get a "No Boot" after i reset.. ?!..
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: thanos on November 07, 2007, 10:51:06 AM
Excellent!

I would guess quite a few people are trying to get a look at this.  I will just TRY be patient for a few more days.

Perhaps this weekend, I admit I'll probably be up early to give it a go.

I'm sure there has been a lot of work put into this project.

Thanks for sharing your hobby with us.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: motorollin on November 07, 2007, 11:06:08 AM
The installer looks amazing! Thanks for this! :-) I haven't got it installed yet since I need to put a kickstart ROM on to a CD first. Also, will it install the Workbench files from an OS3.9 CD?

--
moto
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: benJamin on November 07, 2007, 12:08:01 PM
Some really nice touches on the installer.  I admire your work. :-D


jaminJay
"Well Done!" :banana:
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Unit21 on November 07, 2007, 02:22:17 PM
@patts:

GRUB not loading the boot-image can happen for a number of reasons. It did install though, as you got an error message.
It seems that it might be looking at the wrong partition for the linux boot image.

I don't know how well you know Linux, but GRUB will give you a minimal command shell. You can find information on available commands here:


http://www.linux-sxs.org/administration/grub-cmd.html


It may also fail because your PC is set to handle a large harddisk as "LARGE" in your BIOS instead of "LBA". Try changing that setting.

Hope this helps a bit...
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: XDelusion on November 07, 2007, 05:27:01 PM
Can't get the HD image to boot after install on Qemu, so I'm going to make space on my 2nd drive.

 BTW, if I wanted to put my ROMS and ADF Work Bench files on the X-Amiga CD-ROM, how would I go about doing that?
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Einstein on November 07, 2007, 07:17:54 PM
http://www.download.com/UltraISO-Premium/3000-2646_4-10714831.html
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: uncharted on November 07, 2007, 07:58:26 PM
This is a very exciting project.  I can't wait to give it a whirl at the weekend.

But please, for pity's sake, rename it to something that isn't going to be sued into oblivion by ScAmiga Inc.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: XDelusion on November 07, 2007, 08:08:33 PM
And the files will just show up if I drop them in the ROOT of the CD?

 Anyhow I installed to my second partition, rebooted, no grub.

 Made 2nd drive bootable, rebooted went to BIOS told it to boot from 2nd drive, but only got Black screen like I was booting in Qemu.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Einstein on November 07, 2007, 08:50:22 PM
Well, I only used MagicISO, but UltraISO is more popular.

First you open the virtual CD under the application, then you basically drop the whatever folder/files you want into some folder in the CD (including the root folder, I'm however only familiar with MagicISO), then you burn your CD, more or less.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: mindprober on November 08, 2007, 03:18:51 AM
So is this what one would use if they wanted to convert an old PC into a machine that boots straight  into UAE? The closest thing we had prior to this was Amiga Forever's Live CD, correct? Too bad there isn't some ultra tiny version of Windows available to use in combination with WinUAE. WinUAE is so good now its scary.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: XDelusion on November 08, 2007, 05:51:43 AM
It's more like something for if you want to pick up a cheap yet fast machine to dedicate as an Amiga box, only under the hood it's actually Linux.

It's cheaper than an Coldfire, and more compatable I guess considering you can get something that's about 2ghz for under $200 anymore.



Personally I'd like to see it running on a Tablet PC with touch screen.


 Of course I still can't get it to boot on real or virtual hardware. :/
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 08, 2007, 06:24:00 AM
@Unit21

I got moderate linux skills. I checked the grub.conf file.. and all seems to be right. I just got one HD installed. Made a smal 2Gb part for linux, and made the rest unused. It looks like it could be the LARGE/LBA stuff. I'll check that out later. Right now im back with amithlon.. :) Thanks for the tips...

EDIT:

Noticed a "Error" in /mnt/xamiga/log after install. It's in the GRUB config section.

"Could not find device for /boot: Not found or not a block device."

After boot i get this : partition signature != 55AA

Any one got a clue how to fix this?
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: lelezetec on November 08, 2007, 09:50:45 AM
YOU RULE!!!! YOU RULE!!!!

I've been waiting this for years!!!

Now my Amiga 2000 x86 modded machine will run AmigaOS 3.9 at the speed of light!!!

Thanks for your work and thanks for giving us that real masterpiece!
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: A1260 on November 08, 2007, 04:03:03 PM
and the speed of this is like 25-50mhz max??.... i got a p2 400mhz and this will not use my 400mhz!... blah!!!  :roll:
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: XDelusion on November 08, 2007, 04:42:49 PM
I'd personally (assuming you got $200 to spare) suggest buying a cheap all in one unit just for the purpose. Shockingly enough for around that price range you can pick up a system with AMD in it as opposed to Celeron.
 Then again it does not look like many of us will be doing much of anything with this until another release comes out.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: A1260 on November 08, 2007, 11:15:09 PM
i am not spending $200 on this when i got an p2 400mhz here. if this emulator was not crippled by the 25-50mhz limit this would be use able. as the blizzard ppc cards have max 240mhz on them, my p2 400mhz would kick serious ass with the classic 3.9 installed!
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: XDelusion on November 08, 2007, 11:50:54 PM
I can't see it running any faster than that on 400Mhz machines is all I'm saying. If you want more out of this kit, then you need faster hardware.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 09, 2007, 07:51:19 AM
... im stuck installing here... look'd in the new system root and found that the /dev dir missing hda hda1 hda2... etc it must be way i get the "/dev/hda is missing or is not a block device." error on the grub install.. what am i doing wrong here? .. I also tried the "manual" install package, and im still stuck with the empty /dev folder...   :-?
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 09, 2007, 06:26:48 PM
@A1260

E-UAE isn't limited by Amiga speeds - there's a speed option in .uaerc which should be set to 'max' so that it utilises the most your x86 processor has to offer...
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 09, 2007, 06:32:44 PM
@patts

It sounds to me like a hardware problem: either related to your hard disk or BIOS. If the pre-installed X-Amiga isn't recognising hda1, hda2, etc. then I can't think of any other possibility.

Do you have any other live CDs you could try, such as Knoppix?

What happens when you boot from the install CD and try to use GParted (partition editor)?  (Alternatively, from the  shell you could try fdisk.)

Amir
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 09, 2007, 06:42:30 PM
@XDelusion

Can you send me your install log file? I can't actually read it at the moment (back home next Wednesday!). A blank screen sounds like an odd problem... GRUB normally gives some clue as to what's wrong, like an error message.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 09, 2007, 06:54:53 PM
@motorollin

The installer can also recognise USB flash drives and hard drives, so you can put a ROM on one of those.

The installer needs *already-working* Amiga partitions, such as those on the Amiga Forever CD (System and Work). I'm not sure how to get E-UAE to boot from an OS3.9 CD (if you can do that, there's no problem).

I guess these are the problems one faces when setting up any *UAE.
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 12, 2007, 07:27:20 AM
@Fraccy

The hardware setup is not the problem here. I can install other flavo's of linux on it, and then the grub install works... I also tried the "manual setup" .. installed gentoo and emerged the packages.. but who wants to spend hours compiling code.. ;)

Im lost here. Any one here got it working with the x-amiga install cd??

I'll give it one more shot.. if it's not working, im back to Amithlon.. (AmiSys is wold be nice with amithlon.. ;))

[EDIT]

I found a fix for the Grub problem on x-amiga site's FAQ .. So now i ended up with a grub prompt. I loaded the grub.conf with 'configfile' command.. It boots up.. splash and all.. and then it goes to a defenetive halt. Shut's computer down and all.. Overcome one problem and you end up with another.. ;)

[Edit2]
Finaly! Got the system running.. but it's sooooo sloooow.. i guess i will have to do a better .uaerc file..
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 12, 2007, 04:32:25 PM
@patts

The FAQ on the website covers computer shutdowns - it's because E-UAE can't start (for whatever reason: bad config file, missing ROMs, etc.), so as it exits, the system thinks the user is quitting the emulation and hence shuts down. E-UAE saves a log, so it's possible to find out what's wrong.

(If anyone can think of a better way of doing this, please let me know!)

Regarding sloooow emulation: yes, much of it is due to the configuration. Amiga Forever uses the original UAE, but it's *fast*. It took a while to figure out exactly which 'magic' options enable that kind of speed in E-UAE. The .uaerc supplied with X-Amiga just needs the relevant substitutions for your system. With everything else left at default (don't delete lines because you're not using a particular feature!) it should fly. I hope... ;-)

Amir
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 13, 2007, 06:25:01 AM
@Fraccy

I got a running system now. And my shutdown issues was because it would'nt find my rom (i got 5-6 of of them). Maby in the install process you could get a requester asking wich rom to use in the .uaerc file? It could be the answer to the shutdown issue.. ?

The system runs fine with the original setings 800x600 16bit.. i tried 1024x768 16bit but it was awfally slow.. i also tried increse fast ram, but then the system became unstable?! Slow, messedup resoulution etc. Thats strange because i got 512mb in my linux box.

My final task is to get grub fully working.. now i got a grub-shell and must use "configfile /boot/grub/grub.conf" to get the system boot..
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 13, 2007, 02:56:32 PM
Network issue :

... i was woundering it there is support for a sana.device in E-uae? .. or how the hell do i get network access with e-uae useing x-amiga.. ??
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 16, 2007, 06:39:07 AM
@patts

I have to re-think the shutdown procedure...

My system (600MHz VIA Epia) runs at roughly the same speed in both 800x600 and 1024x768 - and it's never unstable.  I can't figure out what's gone wrong with yours!

The grub-fix instructions are on the FAQ page on the website... And networking is still a work-in-progress.  That is, the tools are present, I just didn't document how to use them (yet).  Look for a networking guide on the site in a few days!  I'm just working on a bug-fixed update at the moment...
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 16, 2007, 07:42:35 AM
@Fraccy

The speed issue was cleared.. i used Z3 mem instead of fastram.. and now the box runs fine!

I followed the grub-fix on the faq... and it's installs right.. but it wont read my grub.conf.. im left with the grub shell.. but thats ok.. i can still read my conf from the shell, and the system boots up fine..

About the network thing.. uncommented the dhcpd in the rcS file.. but it wont find a eth0.. got a 3c905b card.. is it compiled in the kernel or is it a module missing?

can't wait for a update! :)
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fraccy on November 17, 2007, 02:17:27 PM
@patts

Hey, great to hear it's working!

If grub.conf can't be read, make sure there's a symlink to it called menu.lst (it's one of the steps in the FAQ GRUB item).

Here's how to enable networking:
Boot the installer CD
Start a shell
Type 'hwsetup'
Type 'lsmod'
Among the kernel modules listed you should see one for your network card (it'll probably match a corresponding item in the hardware lister)
Type the exact module name into the module list in your x-amiga installation: /etc/init.d/modules
(When X-Amiga reboots, it reads the modules in the list and enables them)
With the relevant lines uncommented in /etc/init.d/rcS you should have full networking!

One day this will be automated, or at least documented...

Amir
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: patts on November 19, 2007, 07:34:01 AM
@Fraccy

Thank's alot! Now i got the grub running fine. (My symbolic link was made to menu.1st, thats way my grub did'nt work) I also got my network running fine!..

I just installed AmigaSys, and now the system rocks! ;) Thanks for the support!

/patts
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: Fingers on May 12, 2008, 05:19:04 AM
So what does this mean?

(http://server3.uploadit.org/files/FingerlickinB-WTFxAMIGA.JPG)
Title: Re: X-Amiga beta release
Post by: AmiBiL0 on June 08, 2008, 10:10:49 AM
Hi
This means that the e-uae can't start for some reason.
Maybe can't read or execute the files for permission reasons or no uaerc available.
The FAQs on x-amiga.net explain how to increase the 2 seconds timeout and how to stop the shutting down.
My suggestion is
boot with the install CD
mount the partition
check the logs in the /home/xamiga/ directory
check your .uaerc (in the same directory)
I would change the permission to the OS and kick.rom folder
Let us know if you need more info
good luck
BiL0