How to boot a second copy of amiga os 4.1 fe ?

AmigaOne X1000 platform specific issues.
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musa
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How to boot a second copy of amiga os 4.1 fe ?

Post by musa »

Hi
I would like to be able to boot an extra edition of amigaos. I have installed a completely clean copy without any programs.
It is to be able to test and as a security boot if there are boot errors on my main system.
I use hard disk 1 for amigaos. Partion 1 is a small passion for amigaboot.of.
Partion 2 (Dh0) is for my main installation.
3 partion is work (Mixed amiga thing. Games and photo).
4 partion (DH2)is for my extra copy of amigaos.
I thought the cfe command to boot my 4 partion would be "boot -fs = amigafs ide0.4: amigaboot.of" but it does not work.
If I boot with this command "boot -fs = amigafs ide0.0: amigaboot.of" I get a boot menu which says that I can choose to boot 1. DH0 2 Dh2
but no matter what I choose then system starts on my head system (DH0).
Does anyone else have gotten similar setup to work, or know how I can do it?
Thanks in advance
AmigaX1000
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nbache
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Re: How to boot a second copy of amiga os 4.1 fe ?

Post by nbache »

My guess is you are loading the correct Kickstart, but when it then starts to load the system (WB etc.), it takes it from the partition with the highest boot priority, which is probably your old installation.

There are (at least) two ways around it.

The easiest it to go into the CFE command line and set os4_bootdevice=auto - this will make the system load from the same device (partition) as you loaded Kickstart from.

Another, more explicit way (which used to be the only one, and which I still use on my X1000) is to create a plain text file with only the content "DH2" (no quotes, no colon and no line feed) and save it with the name "BootDevice" into your Kickstart directory on DH2:. Then edit your Kicklayout to contain a line saying

MODULE Kickstart/BootDevice

somewhere in your config. Be careful not to make any extra empty lines.

Both of these methods should make it work from the boot menu where you can select the boot partition, so you shouldn't need to use a direct command line (assuming your original boot setup brings you to that menu automatically).

But I'd probably recommend you use the os4_bootdevice=auto method.

Best regards,

Niels
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musa
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Re: How to boot a second copy of amiga os 4.1 fe ?

Post by musa »

nbache wrote: Wed Feb 10, 2021 11:04 am My guess is you are loading the correct Kickstart, but when it then starts to load the system (WB etc.), it takes it from the partition with the highest boot priority, which is probably your old installation.

There are (at least) two ways around it.

The easiest it to go into the CFE command line and set os4_bootdevice=auto - this will make the system load from the same device (partition) as you loaded Kickstart from.

Another, more explicit way (which used to be the only one, and which I still use on my X1000) is to create a plain text file with only the content "DH2" (no quotes, no colon and no line feed) and save it with the name "BootDevice" into your Kickstart directory on DH2:. Then edit your Kicklayout to contain a line saying

MODULE Kickstart/BootDevice

somewhere in your config. Be careful not to make any extra empty lines.

Both of these methods should make it work from the boot menu where you can select the boot partition, so you shouldn't need to use a direct command line (assuming your original boot setup brings you to that menu automatically).

But I'd probably recommend you use the os4_bootdevice=auto method.

Best regards,

Niels

Hi Niels
Thank you for your reply. I used that solution with the bootdevice file and it works perfectly. Now I can move on to testing a graphics card that freezes the system when I boot my main system, but it works when I boot my brand new installation.
Now I cantry to update and see if it freezes the system again at some point. Thank you very much for your answer.
That was a big help
Have a nice day
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nbache
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Re: How to boot a second copy of amiga os 4.1 fe ?

Post by nbache »

You're welcome, glad it solved it.

Best regards,

Niels
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