Classicamiga Forum Retro Edition
Thread: AmiKit for PiStorm Amiga's
Kin Hell 09:53 4th February 2024
I've supported AmiKit for some years now & finally decided to invest & see what it looks like on my Re-Amiga CM4 PiStorm.

First impressions are not good....

The Media provided was a 64GB MicorSD card. - Samsung 64 EVO Plus to be exact.

Read speeds of 97Mb/Sec & write times of 1.8Mb/Sec!? It took 15 minutes to run the bloody Benchmark!?

AmiKit MicroSD Speed.jpg

I backed the 64GB MicroSD up to a USB stick that can read/write @ over 300Mb/sec via USB3.2.
I then copied all the files I want to install to the FAT partition that AmiKit see's once it's set itself up & also all the necessary files to install AmiKit to the Media. WB3.2.2 ADF files & relevant Hotfix.
Picasso96 has to be the version from Aminet. - It will not use the registered version from Jens @ Individual, but it should upgrade without issue.

The real problem is AmiKit forces Roadshow. If you run the Roadshow Installer to Uninstall Roadshow, the Amiga gets locked in a constant Loop of Guru Meditations thereafter. I'm pretty good with workbench but for the life in me, can't find what's causing this. I can force it to boot but with a limited start up, can't access files I need to in order to try & fix the problem.

Restoring the Image from the 300Mb/Sec USB stick to the supplied 64GB MicroSD card took 8 hours yesterday!

Hardly surprising when the Media supplied is only 1.8Mb/Sec ffs. - Smelling of "China" right now ffs....

So, I now have a Disk Image with all the set up files in place & can write the 64GB drive image to a Samsung 128PRO Plus MicroSD in about ten minutes. This beauty performs @ 97Mb/Sec Read & 86Mb/sec Write.

Another MicroSD Speed.jpg

So yeah, first impressions are not good & the AmiKit install is not complete until it goes on line to update & endorse your Purchased Serial code. You can't just set Miami up because anoher TCP/IP stack is running & there appears to be now way of stopping it so far.

Meh! - First impressions so far are making me wish I hadn't bothered buying it now.

*Edit* Even more frustrating is the Image I made of the Original shit slow 64GB MicroSD card is corrupt, so when I write the Image back to any MicrosSD, it's completely F'kd. No Image to download afaik so waiting to hear from Jan now.

What a crock of utter BS & a complete waste of a weekend. - Not in a very good place for this right schnitt right now! - Grrrrr!

Kin's computer room now resembles a Wall of Death Event on a seriously fast Motorcycle....
[Reply]
Harrison 00:44 5th February 2024
Could it be something in the startup sequence lines causing the issue when you try to uninstall roadshow?

I used to use AmiKit many years ago, but only via WinUAE, and never had issues back then. But it was less advanced back then.
[Reply]
Kin Hell 13:31 5th February 2024
According to Jan, renaming/disabling/deleting the "S:Startup-Network file" should do the Job.

When I get the replacement MicoSD card, I'll play some more.

I have advised Jan he probably has some Made in China Cards there.....

Here's the write speed for the same MicroSD card if you buy it from Amazon:

Amazon 64GB Evo Plus MicroSD Bench.jpg

& a reminder of China's version....

64GB Evo Plus MicroSD Bench.jpg

"Flipper Munching COVID Gits" ffs!

****Update****

Jan has dispatched another 64GB MicroSD card in an AmiKit 8 x MicroSD Storage case. Here are the cards speeds according to Jan.

Untitled.png

Looks like I just had a faulty card.....
[Reply]
Kin Hell 13:55 11th February 2024
The new MicroSD card arrived & I've been playing this weekend.

A bit miffed at shelling out for Roadshow, but then I've never paid for an Amiga TCP/IP stack in my life & have always managed to get online with MiamiDX in the past.

At least buying this allowed me to seamlessly install AmiKit onto the PiStorm & I have Roadshow to use on whatever Amiga Install I choose to use. It turns out to be the fastest TCP Stack for the Amiga anyhow so whist about £23 worse off, I'm as quick as I can be on an Amiga A1200 with PCMCIA adapter.
All we need now is Ethernet from the breakout board on the PiStorm CM4 combo & then we should really be slick as....

How's it look Kin?

Same as AmiKit on the Pee Cee tbh. Comparing to CaffeineOS, the latter is slicker using the Picasso96 drivers to a better extent than AmiKit does. AmiKit is still up there in terms of MIPS in SysInfo. - 2800+

Just waiting for the EMU68 pass through for RGB to HDMI now....
[Reply]
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