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| AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Update 2! |
Welcome to my new AmigaOne 500 blog update! This time I have updated my AmigaOne 500 aka SAM460ex to run AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2, also called Final Edition Update 2. Here I will explain how the update was done. Read very carefully!On little Christmas Eve - December 23th, Hyperion Entertainment came up with a big surprise for 4 years! Update 2 of AmigaOS 4.1 Final Editon for all PPC supported Amigas, including the Classic!
At that day, I was unable to update because the net was broken down and I'm under the process of moving to another place of Bergen City in Norway. I actually got to update to Update 2 25th of December, on 1th Christmas Day, as the net was then up and running again in good time before moving out from the old apartment!
However, updating from my previous advanced Update 1 setup with Enhancer 1.5 wasn't easy. It appeared that with the new ExecSG kernel version 54.28, Update 2 wasn't properly working on my SAM460ex setup of the OS. Usually, I have the MUI/Hollywood based apps like Jack and Jill to run, especially with Jill running under startup. It's an advanced clock/calender app. Yes, the one on the top right of the screenshot above you. With the new kernel running in Update 2, it causes both Jack and Jill not to run, and a message ask for the neccessary hwp libraries to use, despite already being in my system. Secondly, the new kernel makes the net stall on my SAM460ex after updating to Update 2 right over my Update 1 setup. Very frustrating!
I know Hyperion strongly advice users to do a FRESH install of Update 2 over a FRESH install of AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 1. I could have done that, if I had a brand new Amiga like the A1222 and not my SAM460ex, which is almost 9 years old and still working very well! I simply didn't want to go all the way back to start. Would take much time and effort to set it up the way you want, and I honestly don't believe many want to do it that way, unless you got a brand new Amiga and simply have to install and update from scratch. Also the new kernel seems to work differently from setup to setup, from system to system. There's no doubt that the new kernel was build with A1222, X1000, X5000 and multicore support in mind. So I asked for advice what to do.
A brilliant solution was simply to just update Update 2 over my previous Update 1 setup without going all the way back to scratch, but instead of using the new kernel version 54.28, simply copy the whole Kickstart stuffs with kernel version 53.89 instead, over Update 2, then it works without any problem at all! It might be a bit odd, but that is the case here for me.
The problems with the new kernel 54.28 has been reported and both A-EON and Hyperion Entertainment will look at the possibility of fixing more of the new kernel, so that ALL of the supported PPC Amigas can benefit from it under Update 2, without conflicting with some apps and without the net stalling, and without having to install and update from scratch! It should even be possible to update the kernel through either AmiUpdate or Updater from A-EON's Workbench Enhancer bundle, which I use on my system! So until then, I'm very happy to run a fully working Update 2 with an older kernel, being version 53.89.
AmigaOS 4.1 FE Upd 2 on SAM460ex! (YouTube video of my SAM460ex with Update 2!)
OctaMED SoundStudio v1.03c fully working under AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2!!!
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| OMSS fully working under Update 2! |
Something interesting is definitely how my NSM patched version of OctaMED SoundStudio v1.03c and a new TheMaestrix AHI tool, actually are working under the new Update 2 on my SAM460ex! Allow me to explain that for you.
Under Update 2, the music tracker starts immerdiately! NO GR and absolutely NO slowdown when playing different tracks! Sound is pretty clean and clear, and that's not all!
Now it's fully possible to QUIT the music tracker within AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2 without the OS freezing, so I could even power off my system, too! Very promising! I guess it's because of certain changes to different libraries. Like the graphic.library, dos.library, the 68k emulation and other very important stuffs. Very promising, and all that even without the new kernel!
Making music with the NSM patched version of OctaMED SoundStudio v1.03c and a new TheMaestrix AHI tool has never been so exciting and easy as now! Makes me very happy!
New Last Ninja Amiga music and plans for new Amiga music in 2021 in the pipeline!
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| Wilderness 2020 Amiga track in work! |
You probably already have seen and heard the new Wasteland 2020 Amiga track of mine, for the Ninja Remix Amiga game. It took me 4 months to think how great the new Wasteland 2020 track was going to be, and so it became!
It's important to mention that Wasteland 2020 should NOT be mistaken for another copy of the original Wasteland, composed by Jochen Hippel for Ninja Remix. Wasteland 2020 is completely different from the original, and is fully composed by me Helge Kvalheim aka HKvalhe, using my AmigaOne 500 aka SAM460ex, now updated with AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2, running the NSM patched version of OctaMED SoundStudio v1.03c, a new TheMaestrix AHI tool and 16-bit stereo samples from the ST collection.
As seen from the above screenshot, Wilderness 2020 is in the work as you read this. I hope to be able to release it from the old apartment. Otherwise, it will be released when properly set up in the new apartment. All in good time, so there's no need to rush out. Wilderness 2020 is going to be truly awesome when done! I assure you all that, so watch this space! And before you might wonder; no...Wilderness 2020 is NOT to be a copy of the original but a brand new one!
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A Good Man (Arthur Morgan Tribute)
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Another track I'm planning to work on, is a track called A Good Man. A tribute to the character Arthur Morgan, whom died of tuberculose in the new Red Dead Redemption 2 game from 2018.
For this track, I hope to do a very beautiful and emotional Country or Westeren version of it. More on that later on. Possible in 2021 already.
I'm simply inspired by the beautiful music that is played within the RDR2 game, which is also the shortname for Red Dead Redemption 2. Amiga doesn't have that game, but it's possible to create beautiful music anyway on the Amiga. The only limitation is your own imagniation, and only you decide what the music is to be.
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| Pray For The World Amiga Charity track |
Pray For The World is another of many Amiga based Charity tracks I want to do, considering so much happening to the world now. 2020 certainly started with a bang, but mostly in a negative way. Firstly, there was the massive fire in Australia back in January this year, then Covid-19 happened, China had to lock down first, then there was the exploision in Beirut, and we're still fighting the virus, but now with 2 more aggressive variants of Covid-19!
Pray For The World is to be a 16-channel Amiga Charity track, and will also happen early 2021. It will also be emotional but important. I feel it should bring a message of its own what must be done and where we stand now in all this together. So yes, the message is clear.
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| Bonzai - New 2021 Amiga track planned! |
Bonzai is another new 2021 Amiga track I have planned. I'm very fond of beautiful, oriental music, and I already made some. You probably remember how good Remember Hiroshima became. A 10ch japanese Amiga track, and it was really good! No kidding, really!
So what is Bonzai? Well, the track will simply be about the beautiful japanese Bonzai tree. A tree not to be underestimated, and it's extremely valuable! In Eastern culture, the bonzai has a very special symbole. A special meaning and connected to the principle of honor. As we all know, honor is very serious in the East. West and East could definitely learn from each other.
Bonzai will be one of the first tracks to start 2021 with on my AmigaOne 500. I look forward to keep doing excellent Amiga music as possible. I have grown much these almost 3 years and learnt to master most commands in OctaMED SoundStudio. We all have to start somewhere.
Well, this ends the blog from now on. Update 2 is fully working on my AmigaOne 500 aka SAM460ex, despite the new kernel, as I use the kernel version 53.89 instead for now. Old applications like OctaMED SoundStudio v1.03c has been proven to work perfectly well under the new Update 2, and can be quit under the OS with no freeze, no GR and no slowdown!
Even without the new kernel working on my setup, Update 2 is still a complete update and makes my system even better! There's no need to start all the way from scratch, unless you got yourself a brand new Amiga. It's even more understandable to use the new kernel, if you are a lucky owner of either the new AmigaOne A1222, the AmigaOne X1000 or the X5000.
However, as already mentioned, some users HAVE reported a couple of problems with the new kernel with Update 2. Something they just discovered AFTER everything was setup the supposed way. For some users, it's the stalling of the net (which I discovered when I tried with the new kernel) and/or some apps left out, like Jack and Jill. Others could express some other problems caused by the kernel. So you see, without being harsh, the new ExecSG kernel is not as bugfree as hoped for, and is certainly not working for everyone. For most users, the new kernel seems to work, for some of us, not so well. Therefore, the solution was simply to revert back to kernel version 53.89 from Update 1, by simply copy all the Kickstart stuffs from Update 1 over Update 2 setup. Then you get a working Update 2 but minus the new kernel.
It's not that hopeless really. A-EON have been reported about some of the issues with the new kernel and will work to fix the problem. It has even been suggested that kernel updates could happen separately through either AmiUpdate or Updater, making this much easier. The future is looking brighter, and 2021 should be a very interesting year for the Amiga, nevertheless.
That's all for now, folks! Thank you for reading this Amiga blog update of mine, and have a nice Christmas still and Happy New Amiga Year 2021! I will certainly be there! Will you? ;)
Written by
Helge Kvalheim (HKvalhe), Norway
