amiga-news.de - Advent Calendar: Door 7

07.Dec.2022 Advent Calendar: Door 7 - Christian Zigotzky
Door 7 of our advent calendar is filled by Christian 'xeno74' Zigotzky.

You could almost say: he is the fairy godmother for everything to do with Linux on PPC Amigas. However, his "amiga-news.de career" began with the port of SuperTuxKart to AmigaOS 4. In the following years, he diligently published not only new Linux kernel versions for the various PPC Amigas, but also entire Linux distributions: for example, Lubuntu 13.10 for Sam440ep at the end of 2013, openSUSE 13.2 for the AmigaOne X1000 in May 2015 or afew months ago Void 5.1 for AmigaOne X1000/X5000 (for which we published an installation guide). Recently, there have also been various game ports for Linux PowerPC, such as Billy Frontier.

Please read his advent anecdote:

How I joined A-EON...

It started quite harmlessly in 2010. I needed a cable and was looking for it in my boxes in the attic. I found the cable, but also my old Amiga 4000D in another box. To this day, I don't know what had driven me there, but I simply took the Amiga down to the flat. On my journey of discovery through various Amiga websites, I noticed that the development of hardware and software had continued and was on fire.

After buying an Indivision AGA MK1, I was able to start my A4000D (CPU Motorola 68040 with 25 MHz, 16 MB Fast-RAM) with a connected TFT monitor without any problems. I was totally impressed by the Indivision AGA MK1 because of the tapping of the data from the Lisa chip and the processing and output via VGA. It whetted my appetite for more.

As a Linux fan, I then installed Debian Linux 3.1r8 m68k on the 4000D (screenshot). Which worked so well that I always wanted to continue with Linux on the Amiga.

After a while, the desire to buy an Amiga 4000T arose. That was a dream that I didn't fulfil at the time. So I looked for advertisements and found someone who wanted to sell his A4000T. I went there and was totally disappointed about the condition of this A4000T.

But I had already heard about the X1000 at that time and was totally excited. Only the price put me off a little and availability was still a problem. However, a dealer had a used ACube Sam440ep-flex (trade fair exhibit) on offer. I thought, why don't I buy a more powerful and cheaper NG-Amiga instead of an expensive A4000T? So I took the plunge and bought it.

The Sam was just great, so I quickly forgot about the Amiga 4000T. I used OS4.1 with all my m68k games and suddenly didn't need my A4000D anymore. I also installed Linux (as befits a Linux fanatic) and was very happy with the result.

But I couldn't get the desire for the X1000 out of my head, and in a rush I ordered it at the end of 2012 and got it at the beginning of 2013. I used it just like the Sam and also installed Linux again (what else?).

I was super happy except with the hardware 3D acceleration under Linux. There were problems when I played SuperTuxKart, which frustrated me.

The problem was fixed in newer kernel versions but these were not yet available for the X1000. With the help of Markus, I was able to compile a new kernel that solved the problems. I then also released it.

After the release of another kernel, Trevor asked me if I would like to join the A-EON Linux support team. And so fate took its course, with visits to trade fairs and many new contacts to other Amiga enthusiasts. A development I wouldn't want to miss and which I hadn't expected.

Well, that's what happens when you look for a cable in the attic and rummage through the treasure chests. So think twice about looking in boxes of computer stuff in the basement or attic, because memories and dreams might be awakened. ;-)" (dr)

[News message: 07. Dec. 2022, 06:18] [Comments: 0]
[Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]

< Next message

Prior message >