Test subjects for Linux on real Amiga hardware (requires MMU)

[smikkelsen]

Hi
There are a few very old Linux distributions available for Amiga hardware. (ie redhat 5.1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2zzs7qVC1U)
I have been working on creating a modern Linux distribution and have created one with the toolkit Buildroot (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOuZ6NelVfA). It seems to run fine on emulated Amigas, but I would love to see it in action on some real Amiga hardware.
So if anyone is up for the task and have an Amiga 500/600/1200 with MMU support (through accelerator) or Amiga 3000 and would like to test it out, please let me know!
Harddrive images are available at: https://www.subsecret.dk/wiki/Linux_on_Amiga

 

[mjnurney]

Got to be worth a play when I get chance..

 

[Pghulme]

Sounds really interesting

I've spent a lot of time over the years making an Amiga like GUI using xorg/xserver. Does this have xserver ported?

 

[irix]

I've got an A2000 that used to have Redhad on it (it came with a printed book about this). It has an 68040 accelerator and a video card. I haven't had time to really do something with it, but I might give this a go.

 

[MartinW]

Ditto - this might be interesting, subscribing to the thread

GB-A1000 with 060@100Mhz/132MB here. Should also have Picasso II++ within a few days (ish) as well so possibly a good candidate, although I think I needed special IDE drivers for OS3 so that could be a challenge.

Is there the possibility to setup a dual boot environment? I'd echo the sentiment about an X environment. A server linux wouldn't be too useful to me. I'd imagine building stuff from source directly on the Amiga might be a bit painful too so would need to get into the concept of packing up stuff on an emulated environment for install to real.

 

[irix]

I'm not sure if it has an MMU though and I'm not sure about the Kickstart either, got it recently and didn't really look into it. It's an A2000 with a G force 040.

 

[thebajaguy]

All GVP 68040 boards had the fully functional MMU. You are good unless someone changed it. WhichAmiga or SysInfo can confirm it.

 

[irix]

All GVP 68040 boards had the fully functional MMU. You are good unless someone changed it. WhichAmiga or SysInfo can confirm it.

I have to find me some spare time to put it to the test, I only tested if it booted from floppy (there was no hdd installed) and it did, but it didn't give any extra memory (while that is installed on the 040 board). Could be a ton of things, but I'll look into it soon.

 

[fabbie54]

Great initiative!
I used NetBSD years ago on my 1200/030, would try this right away if I were not away from my Amigas

 

[k0x]

Call of duty!

 

[smikkelsen]

Ditto - this might be interesting, subscribing to the thread

Is there the possibility to setup a dual boot environment? I'd echo the sentiment about an X environment. A server linux wouldn't be too useful to me. I'd imagine building stuff from source directly on the Amiga might be a bit painful too so would need to get into the concept of packing up stuff on an emulated environment for install to real.

In theory it is no problem to have a dual boot environment, but since I just provide a harddrive image, you will need to attach the harddrive to your PC and simply overwrite all contents with the image. The upside is that once the image is written it should work out of the box on the Amiga

- - - Updated - - -

Sounds really interesting

I've spent a lot of time over the years making an Amiga like GUI using xorg/xserver. Does this have xserver ported?

Unfortunately I have not gotten the xserver working yet (blank screen), but in theory it should be possible.

 

[Wallbraker]

Once I have my A2000 up and running after my move I will try this out. At the time I should have a A2630 + 128mb and Impact II SCSI + SD2SCSI in it.

Sounds really interesting

I've spent a lot of time over the years making an Amiga like GUI using xorg/xserver. Does this have xserver ported?

Unfortunately I have not gotten the xserver working yet (blank screen), but in theory it should be possible.

What does the logs: Xorg.0.log; dmesg say?

Cheers, Jakob.

 

[thebajaguy]

The GVP 32-bit RAM appears at 01000000 and builds upward from there (typically). Any memory above the 16MB address point needs to be manually accounted for on any 680x0 accelerator board (in an Amiga that is natively 24-bit address range/Zorro II addressible). In AmigaDOS, the gvpscsi.device knows how to locate and insert it into the free memory pool. Some means is needed to tell the kernel the RAM is there at boot time (maybe a boot time kernel parameter), and how much, would be required. Otherwise, only AutoConfig RAM is possible to be seen by the kernel at power on time.

All GVP 68040 boards had the fully functional MMU. You are good unless someone changed it. WhichAmiga or SysInfo can confirm it.

I have to find me some spare time to put it to the test, I only tested if it booted from floppy (there was no hdd installed) and it did, but it didn't give any extra memory (while that is installed on the 040 board). Could be a ton of things, but I'll look into it soon.

 

[fabbie54]

I am still waiting for a CF card reader to try this on my 2000. In the meantime, I have tried http://files.subsecret.dk/amiga/AmigaLinuxIde.tar.xz on my 1200. The image was transferred to a 8GB SD card with "dd bs=4M if=linux.hdf of=/dev/sdc" from my Linux/x86 machine. The "linux" partition shows up after ejecting it and inserting it again. When inserted in my 1200, I see some Amiga OS side output identifying the machine before starting amiboot.

At that point, the screen stays white, no activity seems to be happening whatsoever. It stayed like that for 5 minutes or so before I switched off. Is there anything I can try?

Also, what image would I use on my 2000 if I were to try booting from a SCSI drive off a G-Force Combo? What about 2000 with a Buddha IDE controller?

Thanks!