Welcome!

WHY?
====

In this archive, you will find an updated linux kernel image for use
with Amithlon. This new image has the potential to provide quite a number
of benefits.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, H&P are not willing to supply me
with a list of AmigaOS XL registration numbers, thus making it impossible
for me to even try to tell honest, paying users apart from pirates.
And as most of those things that could be done with this new kernel
are the result of several weeks of my time, I have no desire whatsoever
right now to reward pirates by making their Amithlon experience more fun.

However, there are still a number of reasons why you might want to replace
your existing kernel image with this one:

  * Support for GeForce3 cards
  * Support for Matrox G550 cards, and improved support for other Matrox cards.
  * Support for Dell and IBM machines with (almost) broken PCI BIOS
  * Workaround for a stupid bug in Amithlon that would make it crash
    upon boot on CD-ROM-less machines.
  * Improved hardware support for IDE/SCSI controller


HOW?
====

In order to use this updated kernel image, you will need to have 
harddisk booting set up in one way or another. Note that in this
context, that refers to booting THE AMITHLON EXECUTABLE from the
hard disk, not AmigaOS. In essence, you will need to boot through
some sort of boot manager.

In tyour boot manager's config file, there will be mention of a file
"emubox.gz"; And on your hard drive, you will have a file "emubox.gz"
somewhere.
Copy the included file "new_emubox.gz" next to it. Then make a backup
copy of your boot manager's configuration(!). Afterwards, change every
mention of "emubox.gz" to "new_emubox.gz" in the original config file.

While you are at it, it might be a good idea to add 200 to the 
"leavepages=xxxx" parameter. The new kernel is a little bit bigger than
the old one.

If you are booting through LILO, don't forget to rerun LILO whenever
you change the config file.
If you are booting through Syslinux or Grub, simply changing the config
file is sufficient.
If you are booting through some other boot manager, please read its
documentation to find out whether you need to do something for it to
recognize a changed config file.

That's it. Upon the next boot, you should be using the new kernel.


HOW CAN I TELL?
===============

Open a shell, and insert and mount your original AmigaOS XL CD-ROM.
Go to the directory Amithlon/Extras/testprogs. Then type

    xcat /proc/version

If it says something about "Linux version 2.4.19-pre4", it worked. If instead
it says something about "Linux version 2.4.12-ac1", you are still using the
old kernel.


SOURCES?
========

The kernel is, of course, under the GPL. A copy of the GPL is included in
this archive, in the file "COPYING". 
The sources are now available from the same page as this kernel archive.