Hi all,
Let me start by saying that even though I only found AmiKit this year, it has become my favourite workbench for Amiga on an emulated platform. I no longer own original hardware so I emulate mostly on a Raspberry Pi or linux (x86-64).
I have tried many other workbenches such as Coffin, Caffeine, AGS (Amiga Game Selector), PiMiga an others, but none bring the real feeling of an updated Amiga Workbench for the modern day to my system.
I cannot remember which video on youtube brought me here, but I am so glad that it did. I mostly used my own OS3.9 installations (via Amiberry) to give me a workbench which I could play with the functionality of the workbench and gain access to a few WHDLoad games (I don't game a lot as I prefer coding).
Having owned an A1200 with a 80mb hard-drive back in the early 1990's, discovering this new side of the Amiga about 9 months ago has been fascinating. I have been using / messing with Linux for over 15 years, which started when I wanted to learn how to by-pass SKY TV's protocol to capture live streams on my PC. With others we succesfully cracked the code for about four years until the «fatal» last upgrade eight years ago. I no longer capture live streams or «cap» for any sites as even then it became very time consuming.
So, to get on to my question...
Why do you add these lines to your «Startup-Sequence» script?:
===================================================
IF $AmiKitSA96 EQ 1
SYS:Utilities/Expansion/ShowAmiga96/Bin/ShowAmiga96_Rev239C18 ;shows boot picture during startup
ENDIF
===================================================
This is the only thing that makes AmiKit fail on an Amiberry boot on linux / Raspberry Pi and editing the script, to remove these lines (or delete the file) , gives a working startup. Adding «host-run» and «host-multiview» to c: , also means that you can use host programs within Amiberry (via RabbitHole) with some simple modifications.
Amiberry is free and you offer AmiKit free on Windows / Mac and Linux (via wine), why not just offer the free version on Raspberry Pi too? No need to offer updates as the basic version is very usable. However, if you offer a paid update (for a good price) maybe users would take you up on it when they see how good the basic Amiberry version is.
Please don't take this as a «criticism», I love the work you are doing. I have a working version on Amiberry which I have updated using this link:
https://file.amiga.sk/amikit/doc/changelog_rpi.html
I have built my own background / icons / programs for the system and it works well. It is my «go to» workbench for nearly all my mods. However for nearly £30UK for something that you are giving away free on Windows seems a bit of a stretch.
I realise that you are doing a lot more in the background and that being able to update to WB 3.2 is a huge bonus ( I am working on my update too - manual updating is slow), but why not offer a «non-upgradable - no updater» version for just maybe £5.00 to get people interested?
You have a great Amiga workbench (seriously) but why are you limiting it from a popular free platform?
Just my 11 cents.
wii

Hello!

Thank you!

My A1200 had 20MB hard-drive

Those lines display the boot picture on Windows/Mac/Linux version of AmiKit. The Raspberry Pi edition doesn't include ShowAmiga96 program.

AmiKit has been first released in 2005 and was completely free until 2017 when the AmiKit X (v10) appeared. It was paid with free updates up to 2019. Then the XE (v11) version appeared, then the first Raspberry Pi edition was released (v11.5). Meanwhile the older AmiKit X became free. Now there is AmiKit XE 12. In other words, X versions are free while XE versions are paid (with updates & support).

It took me a lot of time to make the Raspberry Pi edition, it's an unique combination of Manjaro Linux, Amiberry and AmiKit, all optimized and all interconected thanks to RabbitHole.

Like I said above, the free version is v10 from 2017-2019. The latest version for Raspberry Pi is v12 from 2023: https://youtu.be/laxzyrY9RUw?si=qWdLZ0a_0uP5z2MK

Beacause I value my work. Since 2005 I spent over 15.000 hours on AmiKit. If I spent those hours in an non-Amiga related IT company, I would be a millionare by now ;) But then there would be no AmiKit at all, you know. Btw. from the revenues I support Amiga developers, including Amiberry.

Ján, author

Hi Jan,
thank you for your very informative and respectful reply. I totally understand about the amount of work you have put into AmiKit and as I said in my OP, this is definately the best Amiga workbench on the market. Your knowledge of the programming is superb, whereas I am a long way from even understanding the basics. I got around the AmiKitSA96 by changing a data point from 1 to 0, so it does not display the boot picture. Now it works on a Raspberry Pi. Currently I am working through the changelog to update anything that I can and I hope to be able to solve the problem of installing WB3.2.2 when I get that far.
I meant no disrespect when I said about offering the Raspberry Pi version for just £5 as I meant that it would be for the AmiKit X version and not the full version 12. Just adapting one line of code would make the X version work on the Pi and might get people interested in upgrading. I am just suggesting it, so you could widen your target for sales by just offering it as a «preview version». There are 100s of millions of SBC users out there who are always looking for new projects and at nearly 60yo I am loving re-learning the basics of coding that I used nearly 30 years ago.
Thanks for all that you do. It is absolutely remarkable that you can make a nearly 40yo operating system feel as modern as yours does. I recently retired from a company that was/is still using a 25yo sales system adapted from something that was then called «Tradex». Technically very good (based on MS Access) but still working on «green-screens».
All the best
wii
P.S. you can sorta update to 11.4.3 by editing one file (I won't say which one), but it misses the vital 11.0.0

No worries. The thing is that AmiKit for Raspberry Pi did not exist at the time of AmiKit X. The first Raspberry Pi edition has appeared at version XE 11.5. That's why I am reluctant to go back and create an old X version for Raspberry. I am just one person here, with family and day job, you know. And like I said, it's not only about transferring the files from Windows or Linux version to Raspberry Pi. The Rasp edition of AmiKit is tightly coupled with the Manjaro Linux, including RabbitHole, BootMode (that boots the system «directly» to AmiKit, with Linux system hidden underneath, of course), the Linux changes the wallpaper according to the wallpaper set in AmiKit, etc. etc. It's a compact hybrid achieving over 1000 MIPS on Rasp 400. Anyway, it's nice that you were able to use the free Windows X version on the Rasp. Kudos to you!

Just to let you know, AmiKit for Raspberry (as well as for other platforms) is on sale right now.

Great news about the Black Friday sale. I am tempted and may get an early Christmas present. My intergration of AmiKit X into Raspberry OS was quite straight forward and just needed a little adjusting to resolve one or two issues and adding host-run and host-multiview to work the RabbitHole programs was a relatively simple mod.
I haven't tried tweeking it but it's currently getting about 850 MIPS on a Pi4 64bit OS. I've been building self-booting versions of Amiga Workbench on Raspberry Pi and Linux for a while now. I use FS-uae for Linux with MINT and Amiberry for the Pi with RaspberryOS (most OS for Raspberry work too). The issue with FS-uae is that there seems to be no way to integrate anything on the Linux side within the Workbench environment, which is a shame.
My current set up for AmiKit uses your free download of X, I adjust the AmiKitSA96 files (set to 0), and it boots as normal, runs the usual startup to ask for the OS disks and to set the resolution. When the Workbench opens, it asks to update and can install the updates to 10.5.3. and even has a nice Raspberry based backdrop and colourised AmiKit start button all for less than 800Mb including Amiberry. If you'd like to take a look, I can send you a copy. I could even make a self-booter for you, if you'd like (RaspberryOS of course).
Thanks again for the great interaction. It's wonderful to hear from someone who takes time to listen to comments on their forums.
Kindest regards
wii
P.S. Is the Raspberry/Manjaro version of AmiKit «v11.5 with an updater» or a «straight v12.3» out of the box?
Better still, «where can I get the 1150.zip file?» LOL
Cheers

Hi again,
So I went ahead and made a self-booting version of AmiKit10 for the Raspberry Pi. It uses RaspberryOS with the Cinnamon desktop and is detailed with the AmiKit logos etc. I was gonna build a AmiKit start button but I had already put enough time into it. It's the usual Raspberry image and you need to put the amiga-os-310-a1200.rom in the kickstarts folder of the boot partition. You need either OS3.9.iso or the AmigaForever-DVD.iso (iso files, not imaged to USB) on a USB disk when booting. It has an AmiKit video on boot and then goes straight to the AmiKit workbench installation screen. You need to restart Amiberry on the first boot to insert the relevant .iso from your USB, but after that it boots directly into the Amiga/AmiKit workbench. I've tested it with OS3.9 and AmigaForever but no other options. It loads the WB and can do the updates to v10.5.3 and will also install WB3.1.4 from MorpheuZ.
I am pretty happy with it, especially the startup video and it all seems to work well. I've removed the Dropbox folder and added various linux things in RabbitHole, although many more could be added, and some may need to be installed. I've left the LibreOffice button in there but it must be installed to be used. User is pi and password amikit. The AmiKit workbench has been Raspi-fied but kept all the basic AmiKit ideas. Many of the images come from your own site. I haven't stolen them as I am not making the package available to anyone apart from you. I've checked a lot of the programs but all should work if they work on the Windows copy. I'll send you a link to the file in Discord. Let me know what you think.
Cheers
wiisoldier