Aros/Platforms/x86 installing
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[edit] Install to USB Pendrive
Recommended install option, at the moment, for ease of use and portability. A Pictorial Guide is here and a PDF manual can be found on the Icaros Desktop site. There have been a few attempts to provide an img (image) file ready to write directly to a USB drive directly with some/little success.
See here for an install guide using Windows XP QEMU.
- Good - Sandisk Cruzer Micro 512MB (U3 removed), Sandisk Micro Skin 4GB, Sandisk Cruzer Blade 16GB, Sandisk Cruzer 8GB, Corsair FlashVoyager 4GB, HP, Verbatim, TDK, Buffalo, Emtec C400 8gb, TX Nano+ 4gb, Emtec S300 2gb, PNY Attache 8GB, PNY Attache 16GB (delay booting),
- Bad - Maxell 2GB, Nilox UDF140 8 gb, Emtec C250 4gb, Dikom PDS 4gb, Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8GB, Sandisk 8GB micro SDHC in USB adapter, Verbatim PinStripe,
The Bad usb pen drive sticks will still work as storage devices though NOT as bootable AROS drives.
[edit] Aros Installer
Start from a clean USB pendrive: no partitions at all, use wipe to clear the USB pendrive - make sure DU0: is selected or else your hard drive data might vanish instead. In fact, to be safe, always double check these options BEFORE clicking proceed.
Things to keep in mind...
- There are additional issues with U3 partitions and other extra/hidden partitions already existing that Sandisk and others in the past have used. They can be removed or assign the AROS partition to unit number 1 or higher.
- Do not under ANY circumstances change the name of the boot volume or the install won't work
- using default install selecting usbscsi.device and unit 0 or 1 - needs to match the physical unit number see HDToolBox to investigate
- don't try Freedroid or any SDL program whilst making your USB stick as it causes the whole machine to freeze/slow.
- You may need to use this utility to recover a damaged corrupted usb drive or use the HP boot utility. Please note these have not been tested under Windows and should be virus checked before use.
Before installing AROS, you may want to add a FAT16 or FAT32 partition, to aid copying files between various operating systems...
1. boot windows or use Linux GParted (Primary Partition Fat32)
2. right click on My Computer, choose Manage > System > Disk management.
3. Click on the pendrive's blank space
4. create a small FAT volume on it (0.5 to 1Gb), and quick format it in simple FAT mode
If a FAT Partition is not required...
1. boot into AROS from a CD and then plug in the USB pendrive.
2. Double click with the mouse on AROSInstall on the screen
3. Choose Use Free Space with arrow keys or mouse
4. Change IDE option to USB. To the right, usbscsi device should now show (DH0: should change to DU0:)
5. choose to create a new AROS partition, and use ONLY ONE partition for both system and extras files
6. create a 500MB or greater partition for nightlies and 2GB+ partition for Icaros (hopefully 1.4 will have two partition support)
7. reboot when required - AROS will load again - make sure that a desktop icon with a name of Aros shows
8. launch AROSInstall again by double clicking with left mouse button, choose use existing aros partitions.
9. check that DU0: is showing, and that GRUB will be installed on usbscsi.device. This is very important to double check BEFORE then proceeding with the install to the USB drive.
[edit] Install manually via HDtoolBox
If an icon does not show on the desktop then InstallAros will not work and you will be left with the only option using HDToolBox.
Double click on Tools:HdToolBox and you are presented with two windows - left hand side the drives and to the right information regarding the drives.
In the left hand side window (LHS) double click on usbscsi.device and it will change to show the partitions already on the drive.
Add Entry and select the unused part of the drives capacity.
Click Change Type and a requester shows with type already set to 0x30 (Aros Installer default). It needs to be changed to 0x2f ie SFS (Smart File System) partition, click OK
Switches - click on boot tick box and OK
Now you need to go to the top of the left hand side window where there are two white .. which represents going up in terms of information (ie. Partitions -> Drives -> Devices)
Selecting usbscsi but not double clicking will allow the Save Changes box to become available. Save Changes and then reboot.
Open a shell (right win key and w) - type assign to see if one or more USBSCSIxPy has been set up (x and y are numbers).
format DEVICE USBSCSIxPy: Name Aros QUICK
assign DU0: USBSCSIxPy:
[edit] Installing to Hard Disc
Best NOT to use WIPE with other partitions on a hard drive
Usually a hard drive needs to be partitioned (i.e. make space available within a hard drive's capacity) for any operating system (OS) to be installed. But AROS requires that 5GB, 10GB or more are left unpartitioned i.e. empty at the end of the drives' capacity. You do NOT have to create partitions, the installer will do that automatically. SFS filesystem that AROS currently uses has a partition size limit of 120GB but it can be anywhere on a larger hard drive with other partitions.
The AROSInstall program, using free space option, has also on its' first page an option tick to set up a Work (DH1:) partition. Then a reboot. On the first page again, select use AROS partitions. After the bootblock, locales and other dev packages tick page, there is another page with two/three tick options for using/installing/formatting to Work (DH1:). Please read these pages carefully to use properly.
An alternative is to use Linux to create the partitions, you can skip the RDB and create two primary/logical partitions for AROS in Linux with type 2F hex. The partitions will be called "ATAxPy:" in AROS, where x is the ata.device unit number and y is the partition number. The AROS shell command "Assign DEVICES" will show you their names so you won't have to guess.
Created First partition ( 20 GB ) on SDA1 , with 0x2F ID. Zeroed under linux ( dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda1 ) to be sure to destroy any data on this partition.
Then i booted Icaros ( 1.3.x ) release and did the following :
Checked partition ready in system - open a shell and assign, and saw a partition called 'ATA0P0'.
format DRIVE ATA0P0: name Aros QUICK
assign DH0: ATA0P0:
And launched the installer and installed the basic system. Did a reboot and checked that all files are there.
[edit] One Hard Disk Drive
If the whole hard drive is one big windows partition, then a partition utility can be used to shrink the partition down in size. Care must be taken or you take the risk of rendering the drive inoperable especially with Windows Vista. If you are in any doubt, do not change anything or maybe think about an USB drive install instead.
For XP, you just right click on "My Computer" and choose Manage > storage > disk management, then resize the XP partition. Leave some free unpartitioned space at the end of the drive, say 10 or 20 GBs, and AROS will use it for its own partition when you'll install it. Other examples are gparted in Linux and Vista Resize.
[edit] Two or more Hard Disk Drives
In my case I had to use the "drivemap" command and "chainloading" because my configuration is:
- Bios-Booting hard-disk - first partition = AROS - 2nd hard-disk - first partition = Windows XP
First of all I found odd but if you have a hard-disk on the 2nd IDE channel, but is set as first boot device on BIOS, grub will see it as "(hd0,1)" = first hard-disk.
So, since Windows doesn't like to be booted from a 2nd hard-disk, I had to use command "drivemap -s (hd0) (hd1) as described above.
An example entry in Grub.cfg is:
menuentry "Windows XP-SP3 ENG" {
drivemap -s (hd0) (hd1)
insmod chain
insmod ntfs
set root=(hd1,1)
chainloader +1
}
Note that even after using the "drivemap" command to swap the drives, the Windows hard-disk is still seen as (hd1,1) = 2nd hard-disk, first partition.
To check how your hard-disk partitions are seen by grub you can simply enter in command-line mode and type "ls" command to list all partitions, then "ls (hd1,1)" for example to see the information on the partition.
There are ways to editing the bios every time, but it's much faster and nice to select the OS on Grub menu IMHO. Most old MB Bioses do have a boot-menu pressing F8 or F12 at boot time, but you can choose only HD, removable devices (CD-ROM) or network boot, and if you choose hard-disk, it won't let you choose which one, taking always the first-ide channel.
Read more here or Double-click on InstallAROS application icon (then read the Icaros manual)!! and here essential reading for Acer Aspire A110/A150 9 inch users
[edit] Errors
VESA display options do not have scrolling debug output though
Once AROS is installed, you may need to edit the grub boot option. It is found in SYS:boot/grub/grub.cfg. Or you can use the cursor/arrow keys on the boot screen to move up and down. Press e to edit. Ctrl and X to exit.
To check how your hard-disk partitions are seen by grub you can simply enter in command-line mode and type "ls" command to list all partitions, then "ls (hd1,1)" for example to see the information on the partition.
[edit] Unknown root partition - Error 100
Getting a "Could Not Open Root Partition", "Unknown Error 100" when trying to install Aros.
- Some Sandisk 8GB and 16GB were a problem until you deleted the FAT partition already on the usb drive (did not work if resizing) and using another partition creator (like Linux GParted) to create a new Primary Fat32 partition. Afterwards, AROSInstall would then create the PC Extended AROS RDB partitions correctly. Icaros 1.3 can only install to one partition but 1.4 should install to dual partitions.
- If the partitions have been created with Windows(TM), please use ArosInstaller. It is Aros Installer that gives the error. That happens when the unit number is wrong. You can use HDToolBox to find out the correct unit number (although InstallAROS should be able to figure it out by itself in theory: maybe your RAID set-up is confusing it). Another reason could be that a partition editor like linux gparted or dos PartitionMagic has created a moveable? 1mb partition which is confusing the partition numbering system. It could also be that the partitions can no longer be detected. Check with a LiveCD of Linux or Haiku and use TestDisk with care to investigate.
- Sounds like AROS doesn't detect your HD. Add the option debug=memory to the GRUB config, and then when you boot, run "Tools/Debug/Bifteck to T:boot.log" in a shell. If you can, post the log to Aros-Exec (e.g. put it on a USB flash drive); if you can't get it off your AROS PC, just post some of the "[ATA]" lines from it.
- Also, does your AROS GRUB entry have "enableusb"? This has now been removed as it is no longer needed.
- There's probably a bug or incompatibility in ata.device then. The only potential short-term fix I can suggest is to try setting the drive to SATA mode in the BIOS.
[edit] DMA Error
Volume 'AROS' (DH0: ata.device, unit 0) There was an error while accessing this volume: DMA error. The transferring of data to/from the device failed. Errorcode = 41 io_Command = 49152 io_Offset = 239738880 io_Length = 8192 io_Actual = 0
- Try ATA=32bit,nodma or ATA=nodma on the grub boot line (e to edit and Ctrl-X to reboot).
- Test DVD for corruptions or reburn at lower 4x speeds
- Incompatible Hard Drive e.g. some Maxtors, etc
Freezes/stops at [ATA--] ata_Scan: Waiting for Buses to finish Initialising
ATA=32bit,nopoll
ATA=nodma,nopoll,32bit
ATA=32bit,nopoll,nolegacy
If you don't need ATA, you can edit the GRUB entry and set
ATA=nopci,nolegacy
If issues with SATA hard drives drives
add "nosata2pata" in the ATA part of the grub line
# Timeout for menu
set timeout=5
# Set default boot entry as native graphics
set default=0
if loadfont /boot/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
insmod vbe
insmod gfxterm
set gfxmode=640x480
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod png
background_image /boot/grub/splash.png
fi
menuentry "AROS (native graphics)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz gfx=hidd.gfx.nouveau lib=DRIVERS:nouveau.hidd ATA=32bit floppy=disabled enableusb
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (VESA graphics: 1280x1024)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=1280x1024 ATA=32bit floppy=disabled enableusb nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (VESA graphics: 1024x768)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=1024x768 ATA=32bit floppy=disabled enableusb nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (VESA graphics: 8bit 800x600 - 32bit nopoll)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=800x600x8 ATA=32bit,nopoll floppy=disabled enableusb nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (VESA graphics: 16bit 640x480 32bit nopoll nolegacy)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=640x480x16 ATA=32bit,nopoll,nolegacy floppy=disabled enableusb nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (VGA graphics, safe mode)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz ATA=nodma debug=memory floppy=disabled nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "Some Netbooks and Motherboards (SATA issues)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz ATA=32bit,nosata2pata debug=memory floppy=disabled nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "No ATA action at all" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz ATA=nopci,nolegacy debug=memory floppy=disabled nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (1024x768 VESA graphics, floppy drive - noacpi)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=1024x768x24 ATA=32bit enableusb nomonitors noacpi
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
menuentry "AROS (true colour VESA graphics, floppy drive)" {
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=32bit ATA=32bit enableusb nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
[edit] No bootable media
- Try a reboot (nearly always works)
- press space bar whilst booting, try all the boot options, including booting without a startup-sequence
- use a CD or DVD boot disc to access the drive (especially with usb drives - unplug and plug in again)
- or as a last resort, reinstall grub either through the AROSInstaller (make sure that only the Boot Block Loader is ticked) or manually below (best avoided unless you know what you are doing)
Install-grub2-i386-pc ata.device UNIT=0 GRUB=SYS:boot/grub
Install-grub2-i386-pc usbscsi.device UNIT=0 GRUB=SYS:boot/grub
You should check beforehand that device and UNIT is correct else errors may occur
[edit] How to setup an already installed OS after an AROS install
First Hard Drive Linux Grub1 Grub2 First primary partition /dev/sda1 (hd0,0) (hd0,1) Second primary partition /dev/sda2 (hd0,1) (hd0,2) Third primary partition /dev/sda3 (hd0,2) (hd0,3) Extended partition /dev/sda4 First logical partition /dev/sda5 (hd0,4) (hd0,5) Second logical partition /dev/sda6 (hd0,5) (hd0,6) Third logical partition /dev/sda7 (hd0,6) (hd0,7) Second Hard Drive First primary partition /dev/sda8 (hd1,0) (hd1,1) Second primary partition /dev/sda9 (hd1,1) (hd1,2) Third primary partition /dev/sda10 (hd1,2) (hd1,3) Extended partition /dev/sda11 First logical partition /dev/sda12 (hd1,4) (hd1,5) Second logical partition /dev/sda13 (hd1,5) (hd1,6) Third logical partition /dev/sda14 (hd1,6) (hd1,7)
[edit] Grub 1 not used much now
In the root partition you have a directory called /boot in there are the files needed to boot Linux. You have to add an entry in grub config file, for grub1 version 0.97, it's /boot/grub/menu.lst) pointing to these files..
title Fedora root (hd0,0) kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6 ro root=/dev/sda1 rhgb quiet initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.img
title you put whatever your want root (hd0,0) is important it specifies what disk and partition to use hd0,0 means 1st harddisk, 1st partition e.g. it could have been (hd1,0) (2nd harddisk, 1st partition) then the kernel line it points to a file in /boot called vmlinuz-something (something=version) same for initial image ram-disk (initrd) if you see you have such file in /boot - it's not always the case..
title Old Puppies 1.9 with old 2.4.x kernels root (hd0,5) chainloader +1
[edit] Grub 2
for others with grub2, i.e. grub 1.97 or later, you must edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry "Ubuntu 8.10, kernel 2.6.27-11-generic" {
set root=(hd0,x)
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.27-11-generic root=UUID=6f78a220-070b-4d52-81d1-3361818bc614 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.27-11-generic
}
Replace UUID with your system's own unique number. You will have to write it down before hand or use Linux LiveCD to look it up from Linux grub menu entry (/boot/grub/grub.cfg) There you will find also the correct kernel version of your Linux installation.
menuentry "Newer Puppy x.xx" {
set root=(hd0,x)
linux /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro vga=normal
initrd /boot/initrd.img
}
Take a look at this thread or this one
[edit] Linux
Having installed Linux first (Ubuntu, etc.), you will find installing AROS next will replace the linux installed grub boot and will no longer show Linux as an option.
One option to get around this is to install the boot (grub, lilo, etc) on the Linux Partition itself (root) rather than to the MBR. Let AROS install to the MBR as it always does and set root and chainloader +1 to get to the Linux boot options. It does lead to two boot options being made rather than one.
To check how your hard-disk partitions are seen by grub you can simply enter in command-line mode and type "ls" command to list all partitions, then "ls (hd1,1)" for example to see the information on the partition as well as the UUID.
[edit] Haiku
After Haiku has installed and bootmon (not used)?... Install AROS and add the following to /boot/grub/grub.cfg - changing the x in hd(0,x) to a number that matches your partition holding Haiku. (Ctrl-C then ls at grub boot edit)
for others with grub2, i.e. grub 1.97 or later, you must edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry "Haiku" {
set root=(hd0,x)
chainloader +1
}
[edit] Windows 2000
After installing Win2k no grub entry is shown after an AROS install, so add the following to /boot/grub/grub.cfg - changing the x in hd(0,x) to a number that matches your partition holding Windows. (Ctrl-C then ls at grub boot edit)
for others with grub2 (i.e. grub 1.97 or later) you must edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry "Windows 2000" {
set root=(hd0,x)
chainloader +1
}
[edit] FreeDOS
After installing FreeDOS no grub entry is shown after an AROS install, so add the following to /boot/grub/grub.cfg - changing the x in hd(0,x) to a number that matches your partition holding FreeDOS. (Ctrl-C then ls at grub boot edit). FreeDOS only likes primary partitions (1-3 or 4). No later logical partitions supported.
for others with grub2, i.e. grub 1.97 or later, you must edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry "FreeDOS" {
set root=(hd0,x)
chainloader +1
}
If FreeDOS is on another drive
menuentry “FreeDOS on Other Drive (hd1,1) {
drivemap (hd0) (hd1)
drivemap (hd1) (hd0)
set root=(hd0)
chainloader (hd1,1)+1
}
Other partitions booting using grub2 needs parttool
parttool PARTITION COMMANDS
#hide a partition ("hide" as it was in grub legacy grub1)
parttool (hd0,3) hidden+
#unhide a partition ("unhide" as it was in grub legacy grub1)
parttool (hd0,4) hidden-
#make a partition active ("makeactive" in grub legacy)
parttool (hd0,4) boot+
#remove active flag from a partition
parttool (hd0,3) boot-
menuentry "Kids Operating System" {
insmod chain
insmod ntfs
parttool (hd0,2) hidden-
parttool (hd0,1) hidden+
parttool (hd0,5) hidden+
set root= (hd0,2)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 9A18464D18462919
chainloader +1
}
[edit] Setup AROS within a LINUX install
Normal Linux grub cannot recognize amiga (ffs/sfs) filesystems. But you can put AROS-kernel (aros-pc-i386.gz) and other .gz files to the place, where grub can find it. e.g. copy boot/aros-pc-i386.gz from AROS-cd to /boot directory (on a Linux partition). Now come tricky part, edit grub configuration file.
[edit] Grub 1 (0.97)
copy the .gz files from AROS's boot drawer/directory to Linux partiton's boot directory and take a look in linux's /boot/grub/ directory, if there is menu.lst file then your grub is version 1
edit menu.lst in linux's boot/grub/ and add the following lines
title Icaros Desktop (VESA best fit, true colour, floppy disabled) root (hdXXX,YYY) kernel /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=32bit ATA=32bit floppy=disabled boot
or since September 2011
title Icaros Desktop (VESA best fit, true colour, floppy disabled) root (hdXXX,YYY) kernel /boot/bootstrap-pc-i386.gz vesa=32bit ATA=32bit floppy=disabled boot
XXX is hard drive number, (start at 0). and YYY is the Linux root partition number (start at 0). example first drive,second partition = root (hd0,1)
or if you are using 2011 module boot grub (i.e. loads of .mod files in that directory)
title Icaros Desktop (VESA best fit, true colour, floppy disabled) root (hdXXX,YYY) kernel /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=32bit ATA=32bit floppy=disabled nomonitors module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz boot
or after August 2011
title Icaros Desktop (VESA best fit, true colour, floppy disabled) root (hdXXX,YYY) kernel /boot/bootstrap-pc-i386.gz vesa=32bit ATA=32bit floppy=disabled nomonitors module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz boot
[edit] Grub 2 (1.97 and later)
If grub is version 1.97 or so (it is GRUB2) edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg and add lines: ( Look example from aros-cd boot/grub/grub.cfg )
menuentry "Icaros Desktop 1.2" {
set root=(hd0,5)
multiboot /boot/bootstrap-pc-i386 vesa=32bit ATA=32bit floppy=disabled root=/dev/sda3
}
or with 2011 module (.mod) based grub boot
menuentry "AROS (true colour VESA graphics: 1024x768)" {
multiboot /boot/bootstrap-pc-i386.gz vesa=1024x768 ATA=32bit floppy=disabled nomonitors
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
or
menuentry "AROS (native graphics)" {
insmod part_amiga
insmod sfs
set root='(hd1,msdos5,amiga1)'
multiboot /boot/bootstrap-pc-i386.gz gfx=hidd.gfx.nouveau lib=DRIVERS:nouveau.hidd ATA=32bit floppy=disabled debug=serial
module /boot/aros-kernel-pc-i386.gz
module /boot/aros-usb-pc-i386.gz
}
Take a look at this thread.
[edit] ISO Image
[edit] QEmu Install
My qemu parameters:
$ qemu-img create AROS.img 2G $ qemu-system-i386 -cdrom distfiles/aros-pc-i386.iso -serial stdio -m 1024 -hda AROS.img
Is there a way I can get some more debuggy goodness with a Grub command line option? yes, in GRUB press the "e" key to edit active entry and add "debug=serial" option. This will give you a bit more of debug output.
Qemu manager 0.7 has this as a bug. While 0.6 does not, and it works properly with Aros.
I made some experiments with Qemu Manager in my computer and found out that, when you create a new virtual machine is possible not only to create disk images but also load existing ones: just write the FULL path (including the .img extension) on the disk image requester; plus, once you create your image will be generated a .vm2 file; this file is nothing else than a text file with all parameters. To make sure your keyboard is set correctly make sure that the corresponding values are like the ones below:
Keyboard=en-us KeyboardIndex=5
Should you find that some of your keys do not work or "press" the wrong key (in particular, the arrow keys), you likely need to specify your keyboard layout as an option. The keyboard layouts can be found in /usr/share/qemu/keymaps.
qemu -k [keymap] [disk_image]
launch qemu install IcAROS on a virtual hard drive of Qemu enter prefs/ConfigIP choose "manual configuration" change AROS IP address according to your local network/machine save and reboot launch FileZilla on Windows configure a entry for the IcAROS machine (use active transfers mode) transfer file to/from AROS
IcAROS has a special place (PUB:) for handling files. The ftp server is on the AROS side, it's loaded at boot time and accepts connection to the PUB: directory. Use this place to keep your files and then move 'em wherever you want. If you want to get files FROM AROS, just place 'em in PUB: launch FileZilla on windows and get 'em with it.
It's extremely clear on the IcAROS documentation.
PS: if QEMU can see your C:\ drive as a FAT device, you can mount it on AROS. But you've better using ftp.
The 32bit.bat file contains the -usb switch. But that's not nearly enough to have Icaros give you access to the usb stick. The switch won't automount or do anything to your plugged in usb stick. It doesn't appear, whether you plug it before, after qemu starts, after or before you reach workbench, whatever. Qemu won't autoload the usb that's connected, worst, Kqemu doesn't solve or optimize that whatsoever.
[edit] VMWARE Install
Create a new virtual machine with
1 core processor 256 mb ram minimum 6 gb IDE hardfile "other" OS type
mount Icaros Live CD/DVD iso image as a CD/DVD unit and install it as you would on a real machine
If you do not have a server version of vmware this link will be useful:
It will create a .vmx file of the desired size and attributes. You use it as main disk and install AROS on there.
This link will help setting up the network.
just read the Icaros Desktop manual: a DETAILED how to is already available there. You just have to change "insert DVD" with "mount DVD ISO in VmWare" when required.
[edit] Sun Virtual Box Install
Please do not use any VBox VE images, just create a 2Gb+ disk drive and boot the CD/DVD image and install from there.
Read about peoples' experiences here at AROS-Exec.
VirtualBox emulates a system, so your current machine's hardware is not important. Specific emulated machine hardware can be set in VirtualBox config, but the default values should work.
A P4 system, most definitely, does not have the virtualisation support i.e. slow. Most CPU later on often needed a bios setting manually enabled for core2duos or athlon x2s to do hardware virtualization. They were shipped with it disabled. This provides faster running speed but not better compatibility.
Some older versions of VBox, AROS didn't work, I think it started working again around 3.1.4 or 3.1.6. It is still working with 3.2.6, so check which version and if before 3.1.4 or 3.1.6, try to update it.
To install the ISO, use the wizard of VBox. By creating a new virtual machine and an empty HDD (I've used a 5Gb HDD and it's far from being full), then mount the cd image of Icaros in VBox and boot your system (for "mounting" i mean select the disc image from your VBox' virtual cd/dvd drive)
That's about everything that you need to install it. After booting into the Icaros live cd, installation is pretty straightforward.
Please remember that AROS/Icaros is not well supported on VBox, so even if you install them, you will run into some problems:
- No 3D acceleration
- Only basic 2D acceleration is available
- Networking works but it suddenly stops after a random time
- USB does not work
- Some crashes of your AROS/Icaros virtual system MAY be related to VBox itself
To be able to share data between my real system and Icaros I had to install Linux on another virtual system, create a small HDD formatted in FAT32, and then add it in my Icaros system. Whenever I need to exchange data I put it there, then close Icaros, boot Linux and put the data from that FAT32 HDD into my USB drive.
Here is a Tutorial and Forum Thread with another Forum Thread Accessing a FAT32 Virtual Disk under VirtualBox and some Problem solving
Smart Filesystem Request Volume 'AROS' (DH0: ata.device, unit 0) There was an error while accessing this volume: DMA error. The transferring of data to/from the device failed. errorcode = 41 io_Command = 49153 io_Offset = 111801856 io_Length = 4096 io_Actual = 0
try disabling DMA from the GRUB's command line, it is known to cause several issues with virtualbox's IDE.
Here is the information to set custom screen resolution.
Seems that a configuration file needs to be edited, and the location should be %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%\.VirtualBox (see link)
On my Win 7 I have "VirtualBox.xml", but don't know where to put exactly the lines
VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" "CustomVideoMode1" "1400x1050x16"
VboxManage is actually a tool located in the installation folder of VirtualBox, you need to launch it from a command prompt with the above parameters in one line, changing "VM name" with the name of your virtual machine. The .xml file will be auto-magically updated then, no need to manual edit it.
Trying now to make Icaros work with 1680x1050... At the moment I'm stuck here where the virtual-box manual says:
The VESA mode IDs for custom video modes start at 0x160. In order to use the above defined custom video mode, the following command line has be supplied to Linux:
vga = 0x200 | 0x160 vga = 864
But AROS is not Linux and when I launch "vbeinfo" from the GRUB's commandline I see that the last mode showed is 0x14c".
On Linux, it seems that you can pass the vesa mode as parameter of the kernel, is this possible or can be implemented in AROS Kernel?
Would be a really good way to have a virtualized Icaros/AROS running in full-screen over windows (don't know if possible to use custom VESA over linux).
I'm on OS X, but here's what I did. In the terminal:
To get the list of VM names (it's the same as in the GUI anyway)
VBoxManage list vms
To add the resolution:
VBoxManage setextradata "AROS Broadway" "CustomVideoMode1" "1920x1200x32"
Then in AROS, I edited AROS:boot/grub/grub.cfg - I just copied an existing entry and changed it to 1920x1200 and made sure ATA=32bit,nodma
Just got it working with Best Fit No DMA. Bit too large for my screen though... i'll have a play but does anyone know how I can sort this for other resolutions, by reducing the video memory to 3 or 4 MB.
Im using windows as the host os. Vbox sees the stick and also is formated to fat32. It doesnt appear on the desktop in aros but I can access it from another guest os. Maybe I should try a 4g stick with fat16? No, the existing format shouldn't make a difference since you're going to be reformatting it. Take a look with HDToolBox to check if any drives can be seen on usbscsi.device.
The hang while booting AROS on VirtualBox 4.0.0 seems to be caused by the timer hardware emulation (again!) rather than anything ATA specific. ata_InitBus() asks timer.device to wait for 100us but it never finishes.
I wonder why this happens in vbox 4.0.0 only, however. Shouldn't ata_InitBus() ask timer.device to wait for 100us on older version as well? Just a question. =)
It does. However, AROS programs the oldstyle PIT controller in a dynamic way, a way which new virtualbox don't like as it seems. VBox boots again if timer 0 is set to mode 0 or 3. I haven't tried this on real hardware yet though.
Oh dear, don't tell me they have this same ugly bug that in the ATI IXP chipset that prevents BeOS from booting as well ? (BeOS used tickless with the PIT also). If it's a bug in VB it must be fixed in VB.
Two solutions are possible:
- Downgrade resolution of timer.device by implementing fixed (e.g. 1 kHz) INT rate
- Use HPET or any other available timers (LAPIC timer seems to be a good candidate)
I've uploaded a open virtualization appliance package, you can import it with virtuabox 4.0
root password is aros cd /opt/AROS git pull ./configure --target=amiga-m68k --with-optimization="-Os" --with-serial-debug make
If you just want to exchange files between AROS and windows, use the following set up:
- attached to : Host Only adapter
- name : VirtualBox Host only adapter
- Adapter : PCnet-FastIII (Am79C973)
- MAC adress : ?????????????
In AROS choose HDCP
Use FileZila client from windows and Icaros default configuration for the FTP server.
Rescue VBox partitions, you can boot the vdi with QEmu and copy everything elsewhere without a problem. Another solution is to mount a USB flash drives within Virtualbox using the createrawvmdk command will allow you to access it as if it was a native drive.
Insert USB flash drive, make sure format is set to one that AROS can read/write to (FAT32 for instance). Next, go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management. Under Storage, select Disk Management. Look for USB drive and drive number it has been assigned, most likely its Disk 1.
Start command prompt (I'm assuming you're using Windows, createrawvmdk will work on other platforms but you'll have to amend guide instructions to work on another platform).
In Windows command prompt, navigate to folder where Virtualbox is installed, e.g.:
cd "c:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"
Now going to run createrawvmdk command (part of the VBoxManage command line program). This is the key to this whole procedure. What it does is create a file that links a physical drive through a .vmdk file, and allows your VM to treat the physical drive as a device native to the VM.
Here's an example createrawvmdk command:
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\usb.vmdk" -rawdisk \\.\PhysicalDrive1 -register
The only part you definitely should look at changing is the part in the double quotes. Best place to store new .vmdk file will be in existing default folder for VirtualBox harddisks. To find out what this is, open VirtualBox, File, Virtual Media Manager, select Add. The folder shown is the one to use, copy the address and replace the C:\Documents and Settings\Tom\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\ section of the example command.
If your USB drive wasn't Disk 1 when you checked before, change PhysicalDrive1 value accordingly.
Now, in Virtualbox, add the new usb.vmdk (or whatever you called it) to existing AROS VM. That should be it, any additional configuration will be made whilst running the VM.
As a side note, each .vmdk created with this way is paired with a specific USB flash drive, if you want to use another USB flash drive at a later date you'll need to create a new .vmdk.
or you can mount a new Virtual FAT drive (second harddrive) and copy all your files there... then turn off your virtual machine and mount that virtual disk as an HD in your host OS, if that is not possible, start another OS (Windows) in VBox and use the VHD you just copied your files onto as a second drive, network and copy them to your host OS (or USB or Burn) or...
[edit] Microsoft Virtual PC
still being tested...
[edit] Floppy
[edit] Writing
To create the boot floppy, you will need to download the disk images from the download page, extract the archive, and write the boot image to a floppy disk. If you are using a UNIX-like operating system (such as Linux or FreeBSD), you can do this with the following command:
cd AROS-i386-pc
dd if=aros-boot.img of=/dev/fd0
If you are using Windows, you will need to get rawrite to write the image to a floppy. Please see the documentation of rawrite for information on how to use it.
[edit] Booting
Simply insert the boot floppy into the drive and reboot the computer. When disk access stops and the screen is blank, replace the boot floppy with the system floppy (you can also insert a boot CD at this point if your PC has trouble booting directly from CD). If everything works you should see a nice screen after a while.
from widescreen support
The 915resolution its not actually a driver so it can only change available bios resolutions. it says pretty specific, that it can only be used with Grub 1.97 beta 2.
copy 915resolution.mod file to Boot/grub
press C at grub screen time and type:
insmod 915resolution
915resolution -l
it give you list of available modes.Now choose ,example mode 38
915resolution 38 1024 576
check result:
915resolution -l
if it works,boot aros and edit Boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry "Aros (VESA best fit, true colour, floppy disabled)" {
insmod 915resolution
915resolution 38 1024 576
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=1024x576 enableusb ATA=32bit floppy=disabled
}
menuentry "AROS" {
insmod 915resolution
915resolution 30 1024 600
multiboot /boot/aros-pc-i386.gz vesa=32bit enableusb ATA=32bit floppy=disabled
boot
}
[edit] Technical
Although there are many partitioning schemes, PC-MBR (4 partitions, or 3 plus 1 extended), Amiga RDB, or 68k/PPC Apple Partition Map. AROS uses a dedicated PC-MBR partition 'slot' containing something like amiga RDB as the first sector, with several partitions/filesystems inside (FreeBSD style...). Consequently, Linux can't normally read AROS FFS partitions because they're not contained directly in an MBR partition. However, there is a patch around for the Linux kernel to make this possible. Alternatively, you can create MBR partitions of type 0x2e and 0x2f in Linux to make FFS and SFS partitions. These will be named ATAxPy: in AROS, where x is the drive number and y is the partition number (both start at zero).
The installer should never overwrite any existing MBR primary or logical partitions, but it won't set up Linux in its Grub menu. If asked to install Grub, the installer will overwrite the MBR, but you can always save it beforehand of course.
I want to create the Aros partition for the installation with an external app. Like Acronis Disk Director.
I create an 0x30 type unformated partition, then on the Aros installer I use "Use existing AROS Partition" and ata.device unit 0 for the bootloader (I type ata.device myself it doesn't have it there already) and then the installation fails, with Aros installer asking me for volume DH0.
The x30 partition is a virtual harddrive for AROS. You still need to create an AROS partition table (a.k.a. RDB) and AROS partitions on this virtual drive. HDToolbox is the tool to use for that. You could have created the x30 partition with HDToolbox, too. Would have saved you one time booting with Acronis.
I am trying to figure out how to create more than 2 partitions on my fresh Icaros install. Is this supposed to be working at the moment? The reason I ask this: I had 3 partitions in the past, but after some update, the third partition became "invisible". I could only see it when I booted a CD with an old version.
Now, with my fresh install on my 60 GB hard disk, I created a 4 GB dh0: and 10 GB dh1: partition in order to create a third partition for my data afterwards. But hdtoolbox tells me that there is no more free space next to dh0: and dh1:. I could add another "partition 0" one level higher, but I can't save the changes. Any ideas?
It can be done without reinstall. The trick was to resize the RDB partition table with hdtoolbox. After that, I was able to add another partition to it. Care should be taken though.
After partitioning with the installer, it should also be possible to create a second RDB table within the extended partition. I tried that, but the partition was also named "partition 0" and I was not able to rename it. I also couldn't create partitions in it.
Relabel does not rename the partition, it only renames the volume. In order to rename the partition, you need to run HDtoolbox, find the partition and enter a different name, then reboot.
The name displayed on the desktop is the volume name, though. The partition name is only used by DOS.
In order to relabel a volume, you don't need to find the partition name. You can enter
relabel oldname: newname
keep all my work in a dedicated partition (dh3), so normally formatting and/or reinstalling to dh0 my work is safe). Using 68k os3.x hdtoolbox however strips the drive of its "aros" drive tables, etc. (I knew this already, but in my frustration just didnt think about it), so I believe I may have lost everything. I'd repartitioned the drive to include an os3.x dh0: and dh1:, before I reaslied my error (have left a good chunk of the drive raw still too). Anyway, my question is in regards to data recovery. Is there a way to restore things to how they where, even if its just for the raw areas on the drive ?
