AmiCygnix 1.4 on AmigaOne X5000

Today I am taking a look at the relatively recently released AmiCygnix 1.4 update for AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition on my AmigaOne X5000. Due to moving house I had to delay this blog post from December 2018 until I was set up again!

AmiCygnix is a X-windows implementation for AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition that allows you to run some Unix applications under AmiCygnix (separate screen) or standalone windows within AmigaOS 4. The advantage of this is access to Unix applications that are not yet available under AmigaOS 4!

I have looked in detail at Amicygnix in the past on this blog, covering a number of versions since 2012! 

https://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2012/06/getting-started-with-amicygnix-11-on.html

https://amigax1000.blogspot.com/2012/11/amicygnix-12-upgrade-and-audacious-on.html

I installed the last 1.3 version update on my X1000 too but didn't cover it in the blog.

It has been a number of years since it was updated, and this update in late 2018 fixes the issue introduced in AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition and updated Radeon HD drivers prevented Amicygnix working on my X1000 with a Southern Islands Radeon HD card installed.

Slightly off topic - Since my last update I have made good progress on setting up my computer rooms, with my Next Gen AmigaOne A1222, X1000 and X5000 all setup.

Here is the X5000 up and running:

I decided to try out Amicygnix on my X5000. Since it has my X1000 setup copied over, it already has AmiCygnix 1.3 installed.

I downloaded the latest AmiCygnix 1.4 from os4depot.net - the base packages is here and the tools package is here. Once downloaded you get the drawer contents (once extracted) of the base package as below:

The installation works much the same as previous versions:

There is a installation readme that pops up to warn that you need significant space and it should be installed on a SFS2/SFS partition. In my case it is installed on SFS2 so we are good to go:

The installer picks up my previous 1.3 installation and offers to upgrade it - which of course I want to do!

I then grab a coffee while the files copy across:

Along the way it asks you to set the screen resolution for AmiCygnix. Since I am using a 1080p screen I choose 1920x1080x16:

The installer then asks for language and character set options - which I leave as default:

The installation then asks me to set the location, and automatically opens the drawer showing the countries and cities inside each:

Glad to see Australia and Adelaide are there, and I input them according to the instructions on the installer.

You also get the option to map unix Ctrl-X Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V keys to be usable under Amicygnix in addition to the usual Amiga+key combinations for cut, copy and paste functions. I choose to enable this:

I leave the next few options as per defaults:

The installer also reminds me that the MyX11Setup program allows customisation of Amicygnix from AmigaOS 4 as needed:

Some libraries needed are copied and caches and databases updated - I won't bore you with those screenshots!

With that done the installation is completed!

After a reboot, I then installed the new Amicygnix tools v1.4 package as well:

The installer works much the same:

As before, it detects my older 1.3 Amicygnix tools installation and offers to upgrade, which I do:

Eventually the installer completes:

With the installation all done, I fire up AmiCygnix using the Start_Amicygnix program in the installed drawer - I then get the main Amicygnix desktop appear as a separate screen under AmigaOS 4:

I fire up Audacious audio player to play some MP3's under Amicygnix 1.4:

I previously installed Gimp 2.6 image processor/editor/viewer and a number of other packages too, all available on os4depot for Amicygnix, which work well. Here is Gimp:

I then tested the standalone functionality of Amicygnix 1.4, by running Gnumeric as a 1024x768 window under the AmigaOS 4 Workbench screen:

You can drag the window around the AmigaOS 4 workbench as with any other window, and click inside the window to use the application running under AmiCygnix.

In Gnumeric you can save in Excel .xls format which is great as it means you can work on spreadsheets on the X5000 under Amicygnix 1.4 and then transfer easily to use on Mac or PC systems with Microsoft Office.

I look forward to the day when Libreoffice is available for AmigaOS 4 and we can do this natively, but this is still a good thing in 2019 that we can work on common Word and Excel documents with any Mac and PC owning friends!

As an aside I had to fix an issue with the X5000 when using MUI patched requesters like WinAmp, Odyssey, etc, which is related to the last version of MUI5 I installed in September 2018. It causes Grim reaper errors (which you can ignore) when opening drawers in the requesters, but getting them every time you use another program is quickly annoying. I disabled the patchasl MUI command from the s:user-startup added by the MUI installer and the issue went away. I should check if there is an MUI update to fix this...anyway, for now back to Amicygnix.

We can run Abiword under standalone mode in Amicygnix too, allowing us to edit and save Microsoft Word formatted documents under AmigaOS 4:

AmiCygnix has a start menu in the bottom left corner to launch games, utilities, applications and settings, and a taskbar for quick launch icons and running applications can be selected to switch focus as needed.

Under settings in the start menu you can customise the look and feel of Amicygnix. It is already set to mimic AmigaOS4 look and feel, but you can change this if you want to:

Of the cool features of AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition which is carried over from the Classic Amiga earlier versions is the ability to "pull down" the workbench screen from clicking and holding the left button on the title bar, revealing the other opened screens behind.

For fun I did this again with Amicygnix 1.4 running on the rear screen, and AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition on the front. For good measure the standalone Gnumeric is running as a window within AmigaOS 4 as well! Very cool, and smooth operation while doing it too:

There is a lot more to explore with Amicygnix 1.4, and many applications available for it on os4depot so please give it a try!

Computer Room reconfiguration and NG Amiga games

This weekend I was busy reconstructing my computer room desk area after pulling it apart for the Adelaide Amiga meeting on Monday. With my X1000 now returned, and the addition of the Icaros setup on the Core i7 PC, CDTV and a Sam460CR, I needed to find a way to fit them into a small space.

Adding extra monitors is not an option for me due to space, so I found a solution with my LG 24" TFT screen, as it has VGA, DVI and HDMI inputs which are switchable from the front panel.

I was using that screen paired with another identical screen on the X1000 as a dual display, but with Warp3D SI now working through the main card on the X1000 now, I no longer need two screens on it. I needed that spare screen for this project:

After some other work done on this weekend, the Core i7 PC now has two graphics cards in it - a Geforce 8800GT for Icaros, and a ATI Radeon 270X for Windows 10. Windows 10 can use both cards of course (so dual screen), while the Icaros setup can only use the Geforce 8800GT card. I covered more about my Icaros 2.0.3 setup on this Core i7 PC here. So now I can boot either one without swapping cables or hardware! :-)

The Geforce 8800GT card is now connected to the VGA input on the LG screen.

I used the opportunity to play some 3D games on Icaros 2.0.3 that I got working earlier this weekend also. (click to expand any pictures)

Return to Castle Wolfenstein on Icaros 2.0.3:

Played this game originally on PC and never thought I would see this game on a NG Amiga system, but here it is:

Duke Nukem 3D on Icaros 2.0.3:

Aquaria on Icaros 2.0.3:

A work in progress is Doom 3 on Icaros 2.0.3, which at the moment only gets as far as the title screen.

Update 14/9/2015 - I now have Doom 3 working on Icaros 2.0.3! To help out other people, I got it working by installing Doom 3 on Windows 10, then updating to the latest 1.3.1 patch. Once done I copied the Doom3 folder from Windows 10 and transferred it into the ADoom3 drawer in Icaros.

To do this from within Icaros (avoiding USB drives) I needed to copy the NTFS driver from Icaros Storage/L drawer to L: as below. After a reboot I could then see the NTFS drives on my system, including the Windows 10 drive to copy the files I needed.

Once done the game now works!

In the screenshot below you can see the Disk type is NTFS. As a last step I changed the default Icaros Theme in Preferences to use a AmigaOS 4 style theme, as I prefer the look:

I now include some more photos from Doom 3, running on Icaros 2.0.3!

It is so hard to believe we have this game running on a NG Amiga system - how awesome!

Performance does slow down a bit when a lot is happening, but nonetheless it runs well in the default settings!

Maybe if I adjust the settings a bit I can get it more optimal, but it is impressive as it is! Doom 3 on NG Amiga - who would have thought! :-)

Let's move on to the Amiga CDTV side of things now!

The CDTV has AV out only, which led to my purchase this weekend at Jaycar (Electronics store in Adelaide) of a AV to HDMI 1080p upscaler box and associated HDMI and Audio cables!

Here is a close up of the AV to HDMI upscaler. It is powered from USB port connector, with power supply included. It also can use 720p instead of 1080p. Why you would want to use 720p I have no idea - does anyone have a 720p only HDMI display these days?

Pretty soon I had the CDTV hooked up the HDMI input on the screen.  It looks great.

I didn't connect the audio to the upscaler because I am not connecting it to a TV (which would have it's own sound output). Instead I fed the audio from the CDTV separately to a audio switch box that is connected to a subwoofer and speakers. I used this same switch box when I exhibited at AmiWest 2014 last year.

Here is the CDTV playing back Immortal 4, the remixed Amiga game tune CD - the speakers are hidden behind the screen due to space constraints:

I also got a HDMI switcher box (with remote), which allows me to switch up to three HDMI inputs.

This doesn't need external power and I am using it to switch between the CDTV HDMI output and a separate VidOn.Me Android Media box I received a while back for free (came with a DVDFab software purchase) but never used until now. It also has HDMI out.

The VidOn.Me box is very compact, with wireless support and I have attached a USB hard disk on top with various videos and music to play on it:

VidOn.Me in action on the LG 24" screen, switched from the CDTV using the button on the HDMI switcher:

Playing back 1080p videos works a treat. I look forward to being able to do this on my NG Amiga systems soon too hopefully :-)

The final part was to squeeze in the Sam 460CR system in between the LG screen and the C64, and hook it up to the DVI input on the LG monitor - it only just fits but hey - it fits! I removed the CDTV keyboard (as it isn't needed to use it) and replaced it with the AmigaOne keyboard and mouse for the Sam 460CR.

The Sam460CR's audio is also put into the audio switch box, along with the CDTV, VidOn.Me and C64. All full up.

All done!

With an eye watering amount of electricity running, I quickly grab a shot of all of the machines in action before returning my usage to a sane level!

The MacBook Pro is running AmigaOS4.1 Classic emulation under FS-UAE on the 30" screen, which along with the audio, keyboard and mouse is shared with the Core i7 PC via a separate DVI-D switch box (needed to support 2560x1600 screen mode for the 30" screen).

As you can see it is a tight fit indeed, but it works, with enough room to use the keyboards on all the systems without moving things around:

Alternate view showing the X1000 on the left, A4000T, MacBook Pro, Core i7 PC, CDTV, VidOn.Me, SAM460CR and C64.

I was so tired after getting all this done, but I think the end result was worth the effort!

I know other people have much more impressive and bigger computer areas with far more computers than me, but I am happy with it as it is right now.

That said, I am forever tinkering with the setup as I take on new projects, so I definitely won't say it will remain like this!

Also, this weekend I was relaxing with the X1000, and getting some accelerated games working on it has been great also!

For those curious, the Tetris light thing was a present for my birthday, and can be reconfigured in any number of ways by placing the Tetris however you want - power is connected to each piece via the Tetris piece edges which transmit power when touching another piece. You can buy them from Thinkgeek.com.

Here is Quake 3 Arena running beautifully on AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition X1000 with Warp3D Southern Island and Radeon HD 2.10 drivers:

Some Warp3D demo time on my X1000 courtesy of demo group Universe:

GL Hexen 2 running perfectly on the X1000:

It has been fun this weekend, tinkering with AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition on X1000, Sam 460, CDTV, Icaros 2.0.3 on Core i7 PC.

Amiga systems in NG or Classic form are still a lot of fun in 2015!