Umilator p96 driver

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Don't Panic. Please wash hands.

    Hi

    I know it's a longshot writting this in a Forum post, but i could not find any contact emails on the webpage.


    I have recently found a Very Old CD of Umilator (Amithlon 2.0). Which contain a 20+ year old driver for P96.


    Several people have shown interest in getting a copy of this old CD, just to look what could have been back in the day.


    I have Asked the author of Umilator, if he was okay with releasing this old CD, and he had no problem with his IP beeing released, but he also mentioned that the current owners of P96, might like to have a word in this. Hence this forum post.


    Jens, could you contact me on my email labodilsen@gmail.com, so we can clarify if this is okay. The CD does not contain any p96 redistributable software, that can be pirated. and if there is something on the CD, it's atleast 20+ years old.


    Edit: I sent an email to info@ also regarding this question.


    Kind Regards

    Lasse Bodilsen

    To make it short - to be sure, please remove all P96 files except for the driver (two files?). This should be easy to do, as the CD is probably not copy-protected or has special file system tricks - just make a new ISO without the P96 core files and point to the archive in Aminet for anyone who wants a free version, with the kind request to register with us if you like it.

    That sounds like a very viable solution.


    Thank you very much for taking the time to answer this, and i will do as you requested.

    Hi Jens

    Sorry to bother you again with this. But Bernd Meyer raised some points to me about your suggestion, that would render the CD pretty useless without the P96 core libraries.


    Some quotes from a long text from Bernd Meyer

    "

    • The P96 core files live in an Amiga filesystem which exists on a complete disk image file on a linux filesystem; The linux filesystem in turn also exists as a compressed image file (an initial ram disk, or initrd, one) on the CD.


    • Without the P96 core files, starting the CD will almost certainly not do anything useful --- P96 is the way of getting stuff displayed, and if that can't run, nothing can be displayed


    Also, back then, people copying out the commercial IP from the free-to-distribute demo version was certainly a concern of mine; To prevent that, Umilator's CPU emulation actually duplicated some existing CPU instructions in some unused opcode slots, and the included binary images were modified to use some of those duplicated instructions --- meaning if the binaries were copied to a real 68k CPU, or any other 68k emulator, they would crash and burn when they hit those supposed-to-be-unused opcodes.

    "


    So to recap:

    1. Removing the files from the .iso would render the .iso unusable, as nothing would be showing on the screen.

    2. The included libraries have been patched to only work with umilator.

    3. The demo CD have restrictions in place, to not allow writing to harddrives. And is limited to 20 minute sessions


    My hope would be that, realising these technical issues, and knowing that we are talking about a time-limited demo of purely historical interest, with almost zero potential for actual use. You would consider allowing this to be released, having just a kind request to register, and a pointer to the Aminet version for anyone who is interested in P96 in any other context.


    Infact i would happily buy a license for P96 myself, if this would help, even though i don't use it. And i can also give you a link to this .iso file, so you can test it out yourself (might require some pretty old hardware though, or VirtualBox)


    I can also put you in direct contact with Bernd Meyer, if you would like a more detailed explaination of the issues.


    The files included on the CD is:

    Picasso96API.library version 2.310

    rtg.library version 40.3992

    emulation.library version 40.389

    fastlayers.library version 40.48

    Picasso96Mode

    PVS

    screenshot: https://photos.app.goo.gl/a9iyY9PbnVVrjb986

    no other picasso96 files are included with the CD.


    EDIT: Added info, this is the exact same library versions that is available on the AmigaOS XL CD, which is already available on the internet, so there is nothing new on this Umilator Demo CD in that regard.


    Kind regards

    Lasse Bodilsen

    I used to be in contact with Bernd Meyer back when I attempted to mediate between parties, so Bernd should have my eMail address. Please have him contact me through the old think42 email address.

    Hi Jens

    Thank you for the reply.


    I will forward your request to Bernd. Even though i would like to not cause any more stress for Bernd on this matter, than he already had in the past, as i know how much it affected him back then.


    Just to clarify. I'm not looking to release Umilator as a viable product. But only have this Demo CD available for historic reasons.


    Hope we can resolve this issue.


    Kind Regards

    Lasse Bodilsen

    Jens


    Bernd should have contacted you on your shop address, as his email archives are locked up in storage, and he could not remember the correct email address. :-)


    Hope you can find some time to look at his email.


    Kind regards

    Lasse Bodilsen

    Jens

    Hi again, long time have gone by :-)

    I have not heard from either you nor Bernd regarding this Umilator question.


    Have you had a change to evaluate whether or not you can give your permission for this to be released?


    Kind regards

    Lasse Bodilsen

    It can be very interesting to have an updated version of Amithlon. Nowadays we can load Amithlon into the Linux Bootstrap and thus we can get a modern and 100% compatible Kernel for everyone

    In this way it is not only possible to load Amithlon but Amithlon can also load Linux applications using a Host-run and therefore we can improve the loading of emulators made for Linux within Amithlon, such as to launch Gameboy, MSdos, PSX, Retroarch, FS-UAE, etc... And surfing the web with browsers like Brave, Opera or Firefox...

    Is there any budget for this, something that would compensate me for time? This would raise it's priority.


    Jens

    Quote from Jens

    Is there any budget for this, something that would compensate me for time? This would raise it's priority.


    Jens

    Not everything should be done for money. From time to time people should do something for free or fame.

    Quote from Jens

    Is there any budget for this, something that would compensate me for time? This would raise it's priority.


    Jens

    How much would it take to prioritise this, as many of us that purchased Anithkon back in the day (still have my original boxed copy here), would love to have tried out Umilator.


    Maybe we could organise a pot so people could contribute

    You've written it yourself: It's a key component to a commercial product. Given that probably 1500 copies have been sold, there's likely still 500 of you around. With 5,- EUR from each of you, it will reduce the loss that P96 has been making for iComp. And it would be a 50% discount for all Umilator users.


    Even if the demo CD has limitations in place, the whole product would be worthless without P96. Given that neither back in the days, nor today, there was a written&paid agreement for inclusion of this copyrighted work in a commercial product that was actually sold for good money, I think it's time to recitfy that (yes, I have access to all agreements that Abt&Kneer have had. That was part of the evaluation before I've made the purchase).


    Jens

    Well I'd happily chuck in 5eur. Not sure what site would be good to crowdfund it, or if we could even get 500 donors.


    Only another 499 people to find.

    Quote from Germandroide

    It can be very interesting to have an updated version of Amithlon. Nowadays we can load Amithlon into the Linux Bootstrap and thus we can get a modern and 100% compatible Kernel for everyone

    In this way it is not only possible to load Amithlon but Amithlon can also load Linux applications using a Host-run and therefore we can improve the loading of emulators made for Linux within Amithlon, such as to launch Gameboy, MSdos, PSX, Retroarch, FS-UAE, etc... And surfing the web with browsers like Brave, Opera or Firefox...

    I haven't touched Amithlon for a really long time, so what you say intrigues me. Are you saying that actual Amithlon (the one I bought about 30 years ago) can work on modern PC in an "easy" way ?

    Hallo zusammen, ich würde gerne ein wenig mehr mit Amithlon machen und hätte daher auch Interesse an neueren Treibern bzw. Amithlon 2.0.

    Also wenn das hier konkreter wird, bin ich gerne bereit ein paar Euros dazu zu steuern. Danke Euch und VG Doc

    Ich bin jetzt gerade aus dem Urlaub zurück und denke mir: Alle Lizenzanfragen die in den letzten Monaten gekommen sind, sind im Sande verlaufen. Ich mache mir ewig Gedanken, wie man ein attraktives Paket zusammen schnüren kann, und am Ende werden es dann nichtmal 100 Lizenzen, die dann angefragt werden. Einer hat mich ernsthaft mehrere Wochen mit eMails bombardiert, um dann eine Erstbestellung von 24 Lizenzen absetzen zu wollen, obwohl noch gar nicht geklärt war, wie die Identität des Käufers bestätigt werden kann. Ich habe auch diese Anfrage wieder beiseite gelegt.


    Es ist mit Abstand das Einfachste, wenn die paar Lizenzen über den iComp-Shop verkauft werden. Alles Andere bitte nur noch mit einer GARANTIERTEN Abnahme von 500 Lizenzen, oder kompletter Übernahme des P96-Paketes inklusive Quelltext. Alle Anfragen darunter landen ab sofort im Rundordner.


    Das Mitliefern irgendeines P96-Paketes (auch der alten Version aus dem Aminet) mit einem kommerziellen Produkt ist nicht gestattet, sofern keine schriftliche Erlaubnis der iComp GmbH vorliegt. Aktuell gibt es kein kommerzielles Produkt, das diese Lizenz hat. Lediglich den Betreibern des Aminet ist es gestattet, dieses Archiv außerhalb der iComp-Infrastruktur zu hosten.


    Jens