X-Amiga beta release

[Fraccy]

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

[Fraccy]

@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...

[Fraccy]

@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

[Fraccy]

@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.

[Fraccy]

@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.

[Fraccy]

@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

[Fraccy]

@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...

[Fraccy]

@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