This article includes many exclusive pictures, 5 new AmigaOS4 screenshots and some exclusive AmigaOS4 information. Within the first section of this article I will try to give some relevant background information about the history of new Amiga products. Then sections will follow regarding the new PowerPC based Amiga hardware platform, the new AmigaOS4, how users can contribute and finally I will write about the potential niche markets for new Amiga systems.
The wait for an entirely new Amiga computer is almost over. Nearly 10 years have past since we saw an entirely new Amiga desktop computer. A large part of these 10 years have been frustrating for AmigaOS fans, who saw Amiga’s parent company, Commodore, go under at a time when Amigas were still selling incredibly well for the European home computer market and within the graphics/video field all around the world.
The original Amiga computer (mpg video link), since its release in 1985, was extremely innovating and revolutionary in many different regards. For instance, Amiga’s Original Chip Set (OCS), was years ahead of contemporary chipsets available on other platforms. This advanced chipset made the Amiga the first home computer to be able to show photorealistic pictures with up to 4096 colors simultaniously back in 1985. This revolutionary system also came with a 32 bit pre-emptive multitasking operating system, nearly a full decade before similar desktop offerings existed from Microsoft and even more recently from Apple. With the release of new PPC based AmigaOS4 systems, the Amiga community itself will take a giant leap towards becoming on par again with these two commercial desktop OS giants.
Maybe you now wonder: “How did this all start to come into fruition?”. Well that’s a very long story, so I shall first sum up only a small part of related historical events and after that I shall devote seperate sections to the new PPC hardware and the new PPC native Amiga operating system:
After many years of bad luck and the changing hands of Amiga technology, Gateway, another multi-billion dollar giant eventually acquired Amiga in 1997. Soon after they realized that the Amiga market welcomed them anxiously, they committed (mpg video link) themselves to bring the Amiga computer back for the future. It is no secret that monopolistic forces within the computer industry stopped them from doing so. Then two and a half years ago, Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss, two previously sacked Amiga employees from the Gateway era, finally were able to buy Amiga from Gateway. The new company currently works together with many 3rd parties to develop a new PPC based desktop computer running AmigaOS4, while they themselves are mainly developing AmigaDE, the Amiga Digital Environment. AmigaDE is a revolutionary new technology which should eventually enable users, including AmigaOS users, to use whatever AmigaDE content on any device regardless of CPU or operating system. Unlike other platform independent technologies the AmigaDE has extremely small memory footprints and fast execution speeds for multimedia purposes. For more information about this technology there is a demonstration video available giving a good indication of some of the potential.
The new Amiga company also has had to deal with its ups and downs, with its downs mainly caused by the recent slowdown of the techmarket. Gary Peake, Amiga’s Director of Developer Support summed it up pretty well in this public message. At the time of this posting Gary was just recovering from a heart attack himself (it happened only last month!). The fact that he continues to work with much devotion for Amiga Inc. so soon after his unfortunate health experiences, shows the amazingly dedicated spirit the AmigaDE/OS team has for realizing their dreams.
After Commodore went bankrupt, the Amiga community itself continued to enhance the platform. The Amiga developer community created new hardware solutions based on mainstream hardware technologies to enhance Amiga hardware from the late 80s and early 90s. Gradually the market moved more and more towards retargetable software solutions supporting mainstream graphic cards, sound chips and even hybrid PPC co-processor solutions. In many ways the AmigaOS4, which is being developed under the management of Hyperion Entertainment, is the result of this ongoing evolution, while taking the OS an enormous step forward. Because of the power of modern hardware, the original combination of proprietary mainboards are no longer necessary. Instead, AmigaOne computers will consist of PowerPC based motherboards using off the shelf USB, PCI and AGP hardware expansions. These new AmigaOne boards are based on MAI Logic’s Teron CX/PX hardware architecture.
Although the OS will run natively on modern PowerPC processors, it will also include a high performance fully integrated 68k JIT emulator mainly for legacy software support. The AmigaOS4 will also continue to support the current range of PPC enabled Amigas. Ben Hermans, the AmigaOS4 project manager, recently informed me that the new USB stack for AmigaOS4 already works with Highway and Subway USB controllers.
Regarding Graphic cards support, 2D/3D drivers for ATI Radeon, Matrox G450/G550, Voodoo 3, Permedia 2/3 and Matrox Parhelia graphic cards are under development or already finished. The 3D drivers, Warp3D and OpenGL 1.3 support are being implemented by Hyperion Entertainment themselves.
The first AmigaOneG3-SE board has the following specifications and is already available to a select group of developers, the end user version will come bundled with AmigaOS4 and will have a different ROM as compared to the developer board:
– Soldered G3 PowerPC processor at 600 Mhz
– 2 133 MHz FBS SDRAM slots for upto 2GB Graphics support
– AGP slot on 2 buses
– 4 PCI slots Legacy Support
– FDD/Serial/Parallel/PS2 keyboard and mouse
– BIOS ROM with OS4.0 extensions
– 2 USB connectors + 2 more on headers
– 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
– AC97 (Audio)
– MC97 (Data/Fax/Modem)
– UDMA 100/ATAPI – 2 channels (4 devices)
– Gameport/Real time clock
The price of an AmigaOne/AmigaOS4 bundle excluding VAT and eventual shipping costs is expected to be around 550 USD. A more expensive version of the motherboard called the AmigaOne-XE is also planned, this board will include a socketed G4 CPU and a trade-in option for AmigaOneG3-SE purchasers will be available through AmigaOne dealers.
The development of a PPC native AmigaOS
The completely rewritten PPC native AmigaOS kernel with lots of new features, including memory protection, virtual memory, resource tracking and a hardware abstraction layer has taken most of the time to be properly implemented. Development of AmigaOS4 has mainly been taking place on classic Amiga computers with the usage of PPC upgrade boards, PCI bridges and mainstream graphic cards. However I am glad to report that the AmigaOS4 boot process for the AmigaOne hardware is already implemented, the complete port will soon start as the final BIOS ROM is completed. In case you wondered, AmigaOne boards have been debugged with usage of TurboLinux, here are some photos of the OS running on an AmigaOne pre-production board. Next to a much more advanced kernel, another major overhaul was done on AmigaOS’ new fully costumizable Graphic User Interface. The team have put alot of effort in making the new Intuition and ReAction GUI system for AmigaOS4 as advanced and cleanly implemented as possible. Out of the box you should be able to customize just about anything of the user interface, here are some screenshots demonstrating some of the Menu configurability.
The new kernel and graphics system are fully PPC native. However considering the enormous scale of the project, some AmigaOS libraries will remain 68k executables until they are rewritten in later versions of the OS, hence the integrated 68k emulator will be used. Next to the pieces mentioned above, the following new software have been confirmed to be included in AmigaOS4:
– PPC native media player with DiVX support
– PPC native AmiNetStack – TCP/IP stack
– PDF viewer and printing system based on Ghostscript and xPDF
– New installer based on InstallerNG
– Advanced new HD Prep Utility
– PPC native AmiFFS2 – new reimplementation of the AmiFFS
A more detailed list is available here. Note that this earlier list is still lacking some of the above mentioned pieces. Some parts are still heavily under development though and will not make it into the initial AmigaOS4.0 release, but they are planned to follow in future updates, these parts include a new Datatypes system and a fully integrated AmigaDE. The remaining 68k code will gradually be ported to PPC native code.
The AmigaOS4 team have made it clear that they want to implement everything as cleanly as possible, this to ensure that they won’t run into major problems for the future. This, of course, has taken alot of time and effort, but the team is now implementing the finishing touches for the initial enduser release. A version for Cyberstorm powered PPC Amigas is expected to arrive first. AmigaOS4.0 should be a solid base for Amiga Inc and its partners to expand upon their future enhancements. Many existing retargetable 68k and PPC applications should be able to run on AmigaOS4.0. Also there already appears to be a healthy interest for AmigaOS4 software development, some publicly known titles include Realsoft3D and Audio Evolution. You can read about these two titles in a recent AmigaFlame article here and some other software including the internet browser IBrowse and the office package OpenOffice.org in another article here.
Currently it is important for Amiga Inc and its partners to have a clear indication of how many AmigaOS4 units will be sold initially. They want to get clear figures on the minimal AmigaOS4 userbase, to be able to attract more software developers. This is one reason outlined in Amiga’s latest executive update for the new Amiga club promotion. By joining the “I am Amiga Club” for 50.00 USD, (EUR 50.00, or GBP 32.50), you will be able get a free Amiga T-shirt and a 50 USD (EUR 50.00, or GBP 32.50) discount coupon for usage with either an AmigaOS4, AmigaOS4/AmigaOne bundle or complete AmigaOne desktop computer purchase. The membership is being sold at Amiga’s online shop and at the websites of some AmigaOne dealers, namely Computer City (The Netherlands), KDH Datentechnik (Germany) and Vesalia (Germany).
I am pleased to see that hunderds of people have joined the Amiga club already. This means that we can initially look forward to an AmigaOS4 community of at least the size of Be Inc’s BeBox computer. Of course not every AmigaOS4 costumer has joined the club yet, as not everyone gets their information from Amiga websites, some people are on vacation and many others want to be able to read a review or see the finished product before making use of such a promotion. The latter is of course understandable, but it would help alot if you could show your support now. Remember that those AmigaOS4 developers have written amazing commercial and/or completely free software titles for the Amiga in the past. Good promotion sales now, would give the 30 or so involved OS developers an important thumbs up for their efforts! So if you are sure you want AmigaOS4, then please act now! Also if Amiga can show that there is a big enough interest in AmigaOS4, more hardware companies could be convinced to support AmigaOS4.
Finally it would be great if people would be able to make hardware/software developers, potential users and retailers aware of the soon to be released AmigaOS4 desktop multimedia operating system and the new PPC based AmigaOne hardware. The more people join our efforts, the better chance we have in making a difference and offering a viable alternative within the computing industry. Also other alternative operating systems can add alot of added value to the AmigaOne hardware platform, especially during the initial period while expanding the AmigaOS4 software library. There are many good OS projects out there, each serving its own purpose and each offering its own benefits. The new AmigaOne platform should be brought to the attention of alternative OS developers.
Going after AmigaOS4 niche markets
It is obvious that the people who already joined the “I am Amiga Club” are true AmigaOS fans. They know AmigaOS’ benefits like: good hardware optimised performance, unmatched responsiveness, unmatched multitasking and a low bloat memory footprint. For them AmigaOS itself is the killer application. What will be more of a challenge is to convince people who haven’t used AmigaOS for many years, let alone the people who have never even touched it. That’s why I believe the Amiga community has to concentrate on different niche markets, step by step expanding, more and more into the mainstream.
I believe the first important niche markets, would be the professional graphic/video and music/audio markets. The Amiga still has a well known and positive image within these market segments. Great audio, 3D rendering and graphic manupulation software started out on the Amiga platform. Video capture and editing on the new Amiga could, when well implemented, become very interesting to general computer hobbyists again. The solid high performance multitasking nature of AmigaOS would be a huge advantage here. Another killer application for AmigaOS could be presentation/multimedia production software like Scala. Many people have come into contact with this excellent piece of software, also because it came bundled with many sold Amiga systems in the past.
Then there still is a huge demoscene where the Amiga computer still has a truly astounding reputation. The scene could offer a huge pool of talent, for instance the people behind Maturefurk (last year’s winning Assembly demogroup with their 68k Amiga demo Lapsuus) are also the people who created the top selling game Max Payne. Already alot of good Amiga PPC demos are being released at DemoParties, new cleanly implemented hardware like that of the AmigaOne will allow demos to be pushed to even higher quality levels.
Although there have been some very good wordprocessor titles available for the Amiga in the past, the Amiga computer does not have a well known desktop publishing and wordprocessing history. Current users need to be kept contented with packages like OpenOffice.org, offering good compatibility with mainstream applications, but IMO for the first years to come it is unlikely that new users will be attracted to our platform for such usages. Similarly internet tools and webbrowsers are imporant to please the users, but will not by itself attract many new users. However the high degree of user interface costumizability offered by many such applications on the Amiga, could prove to be a selling point. Luckily a new PPC native version of MUI will become available for AmigaOS4, while a highly improved version of ReAction comes integrated with the new operating system.
Finally there are the gaming and nostalgia emulation scenes. Apart from a couple of exclusive game titles, most of the games will likely be ported from other platforms. It will take a long time before the new Amiga has established itself firmly enough to get the top selling titles first. Regardless entertainment titles have proven themselves to be essential for the success of desktop systems and luckily the Amiga has an excellent reputation within the gaming industry. Also the AmigaDE, when it becomes succesful on target platforms like PDAs, cellphones, game consoles and STBs, could offer a good and simple source for new Amiga games development. One should not forget that the Amiga platform was also the birthing ground for many good emulators (including games consoles) and for the people who want to use classic Amiga software demanding old chipsets an improved PPC version of UAE would be a very important tool. It should be noted however that there is a company developing a PCI based solution to connect an A1200 motherboard, which should then allow direct AGA chipset access.
What is your opinion? How can we make the best impact with only limited resources?
My congratulations to the entire Amiga team. As a proud owner of an Amiga 1000, it is touching to see the vision of the Amiga continued forth to this day.
Perhaps the Amiga is the Margaret Mead of computing —
“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.”
The Amiga certainly inspired me as a programmer and as a computer user. To this date, I still haven’t seen games with the same incredible feel as those I played on the Amiga.
I am happy to hear the Amiga is alive and growing still.
#m
Scrolling games are not supported on the new Amiga? Which chip provided this sort of functionality? Was this a function of the blitter (Denise) ?
Is there a reason why not? I guess none of these fancy PC graphics cards still matches the Amiga feature for feature? Sheesh.
#m
Two things are responsible for the Amiga’s smooth scrolling efffect:
1. A 4-bit scroll register that allows you to shift the current display 0-15 pixels right
2. The ability to move the display pointer around in video memory
I don’t know if PC’s can do #1. But some pc cards can do #2, while others can’t.
That is why Amiga games are smooth scrollers
I really like the screenshots. They look ugly, all right, like OS 3.9, but like OS 3.9, just by looking at the screenshot I can see the UI is very well designed (not the look and feel though). However, it is sad that Amiga went the PPC route, it would be much better being in the x86 market. Why? Processors are cheaper and faster, and also top of the end processors aren’t overpriced for Apple’s sake.
Though it is unlikely I would buy a AmigaOne
If it comes in a FlexATX or a MicroATX form (my next mobo would be either two shapes) and they were more cheaper, while using cheap mainstream RAM instead of custom ones, I would consider it 🙂
[quote] while using cheap mainstream RAM instead of custom ones [/quote]
the amigaOne uses cheap mainstream RAM now
From a developers point of view, this is really a great opportunity to get some serious income.
Let me elaborate:
I’ve been an Amiga user for many years, but in the past software development just went downhill to such a degree that noone could honestly expect to make a living off of Amiga development. That will all now change. There is so much opportunity for software that /couldn’t run on AmigaOS before to now do so. Those who get in first, get the sales.
This means that we can initially look forward to an AmigaOS4 community of at least the size of Be Inc’s BeBox computer.
Well, it’d be a pretty small community indeed, if it was smaller than a BeBox.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist
> Well, it’d be a pretty small community indeed, if it was
> smaller than a BeBox.
But it is a start nonetheless. Remember most people who bought a BeBox were Amiga users/developers. Also note that I was writing about the minimal userbase, based on all the information I receive it is probably going to be alot more.
I don’t really see the point of the AmigaOne hardware. Bascially, it’s just another PC with a PPC instead of a x86, much like the Pios ONE. Are you so keen on the PPC instruction set? I can’s see any advantage of using this over a generic x86 board. The BeBox had significant features to put it in a different league than PowerMacs and PCs, but I can’t see anything special on the AmigaOne.
The idea behind the new Amiga system is offering a new up-to-date Amiga operating system.
If you read the article carefully you can see that the move to the PPC platform happened evolutionary. The first new Amigas are not intended to be revolutionary as that is impossible in the current market. Multi-processor capabilities like that of the BeBox are planned for the future however.
IMO mainly AmigaOS4.x is going to attract users, mainly AmigaOS fans and probably some OS Geeks, but not the hardware by itself.
Mike, I was trying to make a joke, but apparently I failed miserably.
I believe the phrase you were looking for would be:
“This means that we can initially look forward to an AmigaOS4 community of at least the size of that of Be Inc’s BeBox computer.”
But nevermind…
I don’t really see the point of the AmigaOne hardware. Bascially, it’s just another PC with a PPC instead of a x86, much like the Pios ONE. Are you so keen on the PPC instruction set? I can’s see any advantage of using this over a generic x86 board. The BeBox had significant features to put it in a different league than PowerMacs and PCs, but I can’t see anything special on the AmigaOne.
The problem is that Amiga Inc. picked PPC when the hype was on it. Microsoft was porting Windows NT to it (and did make a good PPC port), Apple was moving towards PPC, IBM was heavily pushing PPC with OS/2, Linux was being massively rewritten to be portable (mainly because of PPC) and so on. But later on, the hype died off, mainly because of Apple 🙂 But it was too late for Amiga to change roads. Amiga OS traditionally have not been portable, which explains why a port from 68k to PPC requires an high degree of rewrites, and a 64k JIT emulator still needed for certain libraries. In other words, the main selling point of Amiga OS is holding it back.
Anyway, these new AmigaOnes have much more value for money than old 68k Amigas and Macs, sorry to say. If Amiga OS 4 does get famous, like it’s pre-Commodore bankruptcy days, you could expect prices to go down, market share to go up, and Motorola being more serious.
No, you did not fail. But I thought you brought up an interesting point to clarify: Nobody expects the new Amiga computers to shove the current PC monopoly of the shelves by tomorrow.
Ben Hermans’ arguments for using a PPC-based board are:
1. Any x86 hardware will get Windows and/or Linux installed on it, and
the users will end up simply using Windows all the time, with AmigaOS
as a curiosity on an obscure partition.
2. Therefore Amiga-on-x86 users would not buy any software.
Especially, they would not buy ports to AmigaOS of Windows games.
3. Endianness issues make the conversion to PPC much easier than to
x86.
However, in the longer run, Amiga Inc want to see AmigaOS running on
all hardware platforms.
Just to make sure everyone understands what is being shown in the pictures:
Ben Hermans:
“They are still only intended to give you an idea about the degree of configurability and flexibility we are introducing into the AmigaOS GUI.
They do not therefore represent the final appearance of OS 4.”
Hoya!
I have been a proud Amigan since 1989-90 and I am looking forward to
see a bright future for Jay Miner’s creation.
OK, PPC Ammies will be far from the original 68kers but the Spirit is
still alive!
We shall overcome!
Be funky
M A D
Mike, I think you have brought the current state of play to the foreground without going overboard with enthusiasm. Although some will surely complain that the article is too pro-Amiga and too reliant on Hyperion, it seems reasonably balanced.
Just one question: you stated in your article “The completely rewritten PPC native AmigaOS kernel with lots of new features, including memory protection, virtual memory, resource tracking and a hardware abstraction layer has taken most of the time to be properly implemented.”
If I understand this correctly, memory protection has already been implemented? Can you confirm?
tony
What I understand from Ben Hermans. They are still working on some stuff regarding virtual addressing and page-based memory handling for everything work satisfactory.
I was also concerbed about the choice of PPC, but it does make some sense when you think about it, as someone else has already indicated. I do hope there is a x86 port available at some point though, or even an x86 PPC emulator to run AmigaOS 4 on, that I might well buy… Guess I’ll stick with UAE until then…
I’m also interested to find out more about ExecNG and how it handles memory protection and virtual memory. Given many older Amiga apps would allocate memory without the MEMF_SHARED flag, then unless all old apps automatically get shared memory, I’m not sure how they will work… Much of the old Amiga’s efficiency was that it just passed pointers about, often in registers, so memory protection has implications there. Anyone here know more?
Thomas Frieden (one of the main programmers of OS4, and the coder of ExecSG) said this about memory protection in my interview with him:
It says in the feature list that OS4 will have “optional memory protection”. What does that mean?
“Optional means it can be turned on or off. A lot of older programs can’t run with memory protection. This is because
normally, memory that is only used by one task shouldn’t be used by another. But this rule has been broken many times, partially because people where not aware of this fact, partially because the documentation on this wasn’t really clear (the interested might want to look up the MEMF_PUBLIC flag in the AllocMem autodoc
, and partially because there wasn’t any other way (the AmigaOS does not have the concept of “threads” like in other systems).
So, to stay backwards compatible, memory protection will be optional, i.e. you can either completely turn it off, or enable it, with the risk that some programs might run into trouble. Hopefully, OS4 will later on get programs that will make older stuff obsolete, so that memory protection can than be used to full extend.”
You can read the full interview at http://www.kicker.nu/amigarulez/html/sections.php?op=viewarticle&ar…
http://raggedtiger.tripod.com/amiga.html
Those were great commercials. too bad I’m one of very few who still remember them but here you go!
I also remember a multi page ad section in both Time and Newsweek many years ago featuring creative people who used their Amigas (much much cooler than Apple’s Switch campaign). Too bad I couldn’t find pictures on the web
The only way the Amiga platform can get a large user-base is to get all the big games like Counter-Strike, Quake3, Doom3 and games like that ported to the platform. But the game developers will not port games with such a small user base….but it is here the Amiga company must go in and support the developer with money so they port the big games to the Amiga. I don´t know if it is possible…and how much it would cost to do so. Think if Amiga could get Doom3 first of all systems. That is what I think would help the Amiga back. I bought my first Amiga 1986 but nowdays I use a PC-system because of all great softwares that exists. I hope that one day I will throw away my PC and all bluescreens and buy myself an Amiga again………
Soory for my english…..it´s not my native language
Thanks Mike, great article as always!
John
So, to stay backwards compatible, memory protection will be optional, i.e. you can either completely turn it off, or enable it, with the risk that some programs might run into trouble. Hopefully, OS4 will later on get programs that will make older stuff obsolete, so that memory protection can than be used to full extend.”
—
Hmm.. I thought this optional memoryprotection was
something ala mmu.library, where selected hunks of
binaries would be write-protected. That way of doing
it doesnt really give any compabilityproblems.
I dont see how “full-blown” memoryprotection
could EVER work in AmigaOS, unless every single
application is rewritten for it.
This sounds a bit dodgy, really, “try enable it, maybe
it will work, maybe not.. ”
IMHO ofcource.
… go to http://www.amiga.com and join the Amiga Club! You pay 50$ and get 50$ discount when bying the new OS or hardware, plus a free t-shirt and the club membership including newsletters etc.. Pay 50 for get 50, so its somehow for free 🙂
We need to show that there are enough Amiga lovers out there to make a viable market!
I believe in it!
1. Any x86 hardware will get Windows and/or Linux installed on it, and the users will end up simply using Windows all the time, with AmigaOS as a curiosity on an obscure partition.
I thought this is suppose to be a good thing. It means that with the new AmigaOnes, if based on x86, could run Windows and Linux, as well as Amiga OS, which is good for those with legacy applications in Windows and/or Linux and not ready to go full time with Amiga OS.
Also, on new AmigaOnes, it is possible to run Linux, and possibly other PPC OSes, like BeOS PPC, together with AmigaOS. And also, if this was a fear, why did Amiga allow Amithlon (spelling?) to exist? And besides, if this was a fear by Ben, he could have ditch BIOS and go for OpenFirmware, so non-OpenFirmware compatible OSes couldn’t run on the machines.
2. Therefore Amiga-on-x86 users would not buy any software. Especially, they would not buy ports to AmigaOS of Windows games.
Actually, they would buy Amiga ports if they would like to use Amiga more often (e.g. they like Amiga). But if the people porting the software, like games and so on, port it before the software is released in the retail market, and come out for Amiga OS the same time as it comes out for Windows and/or Mac OS, real Amiga OS fans would buy the Amiga version. And if they don’t buy the Amiga version, they aren’t a fan of Amiga OS, and therefore wouldn’t buy AmigaOnes in the first place.
Amiga could also do the suggestion I gave up there (ditching BIOS), so they could offer x86 Amigas without allowing current Windows versions (and future ones if Windows remains to be OpenFirmware incompatible) to run on AmigaOnes.
3. Endianness issues make the conversion to PPC much easier than to x86.
Moving from 68k to PPC is just as hard as moving from 68k to x86. A lot of massive rewrites have to be done. And also, if Amiga OS is made into a portable OS (e.g. portable code – easy to port), this wouldn’t be a problem.
If you ask me, Ben’s reasons are pretty weak.
They do not therefore represent the final appearance of OS 4.
Good, because just with even GIMP, I could make something that looks way better than the screenshots you have provided even if I was to keep the user interface of Amiga OS.
Anyway, Amiga and Amiga fans have been claiming that the OS’s UI is very configuratable, yet I have not seen any screenshots that differs from the ones you and others have posted except changes like the background picture and the colours.
“The only way the Amiga platform can get a large user-base is to get all the big games like Counter-Strike, Quake3, Doom3
and games like that ported to the platform.”
I can’t see why anyone would buy a non-standard computer in order to
run ported software. Why not run it on its original platform?
The only reason for a games player to buy an Amiga would be if there
were several unique, original and excellent games available only on
Amigas.
There are good reasons why an applications user might want to run
AmigaOS. It’s a nice OS to use, clearly laid out and understandable.
Most of the programs are scriptable, all using the same scripting
language, so that one script can use several programs and one program
can make use of another. And you get direct contact with the program
author if you find a bug or want a feature.
It’s also light weight, fast and responsive.
What a biased article by somebody who is in no way
qualified to write for an OS webpage. He is just a
fanboy who writes what Amiga Inc. and Hermans tell
him without any own research and objective judgement.
Amazing!
Mr IP: 217.88.42
I am dissapointed in people who make flaming comments and hide behind anonymous postings.
Lets turn around your comments for a minute and lets see how it makes you feel
Mr anonymous coward …. Somebody who is in no way qualified to comment on an OSNEWS article. He is just a troll boy who writes aginst anyone who doesnt agree with his small thinking mind. He makes snide and kniving comments without any own research, constructive criticism or objective judgement.
Do you see now how childish your remarks are ?
it’s ummm very ugly but then again Amiga OS was always ugly. Of course, extensive configuration is always given as an excuse by UI for not coming up with a decent default UI. And translucent menus DETRACT from usability
Fabulous article. I really enjoyed reading it.
I have always loved how easy it was to customize the AmigaOS GUI. Good to see this will now come as a standard.
Keep them coming OSNews. 🙂
What I wouldn’t do to kick my WinXP box out of the house for a well supported PPC Amiga.
The screenshots *already* look very nice to me. Can’t wait to see the finsihed product.
I don’t care really how configurable the GUI in the OS is, I just want a PPC-native AmigaOS to run on my Amiga 1200 with a Blizzard PPC =)
> I don’t care really how configurable the GUI in the OS
> is, I just want a PPC-native AmigaOS to run on my Amiga
> 1200 with a Blizzard PPC =)
Different people have different tastes. What looks good to you may look awful to me. Now imagine those developers totally messed up with their standard GUI design, then you are free to just download new textures, gadgets, icons, buttons, etc to make it more satisfying for you.
Currently almost all AmigaOS users do it because the standard <3.1 OS looks dated. AmigaOS 3.9 looks more modern out of the box, but still many like to configure it.
Great article BTW!
The Amiga OS4 is an evolutionary update to the original Amiga whereas Amiga DE is a completely new product?
A few years ago there were articles about how Amiga was going to be based on a Linux kernel. Was that the Amiga DE?
Will the Amiga OS4 have the capability to run Amiga DE programs?
Thanks!
I am wondering would it be possible to use cheap Apple PPC
Cards in a mediator M/Board with a Amiga 1200?
Most of these boards are PCI
Librarys would have to be written to suit the cards
Or is Apple’s PCI a non standard configuration to Intel Architeture or Mediator boards?
Guys, the AmigaOS alone will not win Users, and thats due to linux, MacOS and Windows. People keep saying AmigaOS needs a killer application, and yes it does, but hell, it’d better be a killer app and a half.
The DE is this. The DE and intent alone has already attracted thousands of developers, and by AmigaOS5 there will be many many users, and many many games/apps/uitls etc…
The thing is, AmigaOS and the DE will merge, and what do you think wil happen then? My guess, is that AmigaOS will become the official development environment and official user envorinmnet for AmigaDE software, which will entice/confuse users to use AmigaOS instead of say, linux/windows/qnx for AmigaDE software.
This is how it will be done. This is where Amiga Inc are going. If AmigaOS can struggle to get to version 5, everything should be alright from then on. AmigaOS should instantly have a greater userbase and developer base.
An Amiga comeback would make my day. :-))
It was very sad to see the platform go. Probably this was mostly the result of those stupid PC sales figures/PC clone manufacturers pushing MSDOS as the best think known to man.
There has never been an OS or system which could come close to the way I liked Amigas. Now I use WindowsXP/Linux box but AmigaOS is what I would want to use if I truly had a choice (modern hardware/good software support).
Way to go Mike!
O.K., ten years ago the Amiga was hot stuff; my first computer was an Amiga 500 and it was a great computer. When I am board I still pull it out and play some of the old Amiga games, which are still fun to play. However, I have a difficult time seeing Amiga play a relevant role today in the development of computers like they did in the past. Releasing a new OS with cool screenshots is nice and all but what are they selling that is fundamentally different from what is already out there that would motivate me to buy an expensive Amiga versus a 600 dollar computer from Dell. I hate bashing on Amiga because they were such innovators, but I dislike them using their legacy to justify their potential. That said, if they made a computer that was affordable, usable, and had a large selection of applications I would purchase one.
The whole point of the article is to sell coupons.
There really is nothing “special” about a product that is not only not available but is to have Bios Dongle (DRM?).
And as far as this product and future plans for the so called AmigaDE/AmigaDE player(Amiga Anywhere (TM by MS anywhere)), it’s really not going to be much different than MS .net and other GPL and OSS directions (dotgnu/mono)in producing a common language (mulit-language translated into a bytecoded common) development and virtual execution environment that works cross-platform (write once run where-ever) and enabled to make use of the distributed computing concepts planned for “web-services”.
People need to perhaps check into things better, like what others in the computer industry is doing, the direction they are going. To better see what you are not being told.
The AmigaDE has less than a hundred active developers, and very few users who are not developers. Sales for a “best seller” AmigaDE title amount to maybe a couple of hundred copies – worse than most classic Amiga titles released in the last 5 years.
This isn’t a “greater userbase”, it’s part of the slow and incredibly painful death of the Amiga.
What new hardware? Maybe it’s to be expected that someone as zea^H^H^H enthusiastic as Mike Bouma will try to spread the ridiculous notion which Amiga Inc apparently has instilled in a small minority of the more blinkered Amiga Inc fans that there will in fact be new Amiga hardware.
“Entirely new Amiga desktop computer”? “The Amiga PowerPC hardware platform”?? Please stop it Mike, it’s not funny. You know as well as everyone else that nobody is planning, designing, building, providing specifications for or selling any Amiga hardware. It’s a universally known, undisputed officially announced fact that future versions of AmigaOS will run on third party hardware which doesn’t have anything at all to do with the software company Amiga Inc (which BTW doesn’t seem to do much software…). That could of course be fantastic, if it weren’t for Amiga Inc’s mind-bogglingly hare-brained and harmful attempts to restrict the hardware products and markets of other companies. If that doesn’t hurt an independent (non-Apple) PowerPC/POP hardware market, it will at least finally kill off AmigaOS and possibly Amiga Inc. themselves. (The uninitiated can read more about that debacle here: http://www.amiga.com if Amiga Inc only had some marketing sense. Of course you, Mike, are as entitled to voicing your opinion as everyone else, but using a guise as a journalist to uncritically relay this kind of hype clap and *seriously* bent half-truths on a *news site* like OSNews is outright despicable. If someone really is interested in reading such opinions(?) as you brought forward here, they’re just as well off reading any press release on amiga.com. After several faux-pas like these you don’t have much credibility left Mike, and since you’re writing so many Amiga related stories both here and elsewhere I hope that it won’t ultimately taint the public opinion of the people doing actual work on AmigaOS.
OK, there was some news too I guess; The GUI modules in the screenshots had a new colour theme compared to the previously released ones… Other than that all you showed was your “amazingly dedicated spirit” (yeech!) to spread nauseating corporate propaganda and being a sycophant. At least have the decency to get on Amiga Inc’s payroll – they’re looking for a marketing director.
Tired regards,
Emanuel Mair, webmaster @ amigapop.8bit.co.uk, long time Amiga+AmigaOS user (no, not “Amigan”!).
Even JLG is smiling, I bet. What a nice, functional GUI! I miss Amy. Please get this on the market so I can buy it.
Sandwich Boy
(404 Company is currently, erm, 404…)
I see you have mailed your FUD friends. And you try to play a good guy who wants to save AmigaOS with your fake petition…. LOL After you tell everyone how crap the new Amiga is going to be, you are surely going to tell how much better MorphOS is. Sado! Get a life!
I believe it has been announced that by AmigaOS5.0 any question of CPU will be irrelivant. The only non (solely)68k Amigas at present are dual 68k/PPC in nature.
Myself, I’ve never hankered after a CPU that still contains 8Bit latency.
Emanuel, give it a rest already. The article was very toned down and informative. It also lacked any enthusiastic zealous overtones. There IS new Amiga H/W here whether your 3 pounds of grey matter wishes to accept it or not. “NEW” as in didn’t exist before with the purpose to run O/S 4. Amiga Inc. doesn’t make the H/W but they do license the H/W and S/W combination. It’s still new and it’s still an Amiga. It’s too bad your energy was spent promoting the new platform rather than using every OS and IT news group to bellyache about the licensing agreement.
Hi
In the future Amiga One can use BOCHS / CrossOver for running X86 applications. IBM / Motorola will announce 2 GHz PowerPC in 2003. It is possible to install Quad G4 CPU on AmigaOne using TotalImpact MPower card. It is also possible to install X86 CPU inside AmigaOne using Omnicluster board.
Amiga One can run MacOS 9 using MacOnLinux and Linux PowerPC. For porting X86 applications, perhaps Dynamite Translator can be used.
http://bochs.sourceforge.net/
http://www.codeweavers.com
http://www.totalimpact.com
http://www.omnicluster.com
http://www.maconlinux.com
http://www.transitive.com/
“A few years ago there were articles about how Amiga was going to be based on a Linux kernel. Was that the Amiga DE?
Will the Amiga OS4 have the capability to run Amiga DE programs? ”
The Linux kernel was a Gateway plan which was abandoned when they
dropped the Amiga (probably on instructins from MS).
But Amithlon is very near to that idea.
AmigaOS 4 may be able to run AmigaDE programs one day. It’s part of
the long term plan, but would of course require a budget to implement.
A very complete and enjoyable story to read. OSnews grows better and better all the time. I hope someday Amiga can make my day!
The screenshot looked great to me, eventhough it may not be finished. To able to custom design your OS without too much effort is COOL!!
Mike, I’m starting to see why you are no long PHX’s Press Secretary.
Dammy
Why PPC instead of Intel/AMD? Could be the G5.
According to some web sites, Ben Hermons has mentioned the G5 and that its quite powerful.
Don has already replied to this, but I feel like adding some more details.
A few years ago there were articles about how Amiga was going to be based on a Linux kernel. Was that the Amiga DE?
This was the OS that was intended for the AmigaMCC under Gateway (Jim Collas). It would have been referred to as AmigaOS 5.0 (v4.0 would have been the developer release), and intended to use the QNX kernel (Neutrino?). Later this was changed to use Linux for reasons nobody really knows, and the new OS was named AmigaSoftOE 1.0 – and quickly and quietly renamed AmigaOE just weeks afterwards.
The current AmigaOS4 has nothing to do with these early projects, and much more to do with AmigaOS than AmigaOE would have done.
Will the Amiga OS4 have the capability to run Amiga DE programs?
Yes, but not initially. It may arrive in an update, but is more likely to come along with the next release – which was going to be OS4.2 but they may have sorted their numbering system out since then.
Chris
Sorry, meant to congratulate Mike on a well written and informative article as well…
1. Any x86 hardware will get Windows and/or Linux installed on it, and the users will end up simply using Windows all the time, with AmigaOS as a curiosity on an obscure partition
Good idea! So instead of relying on the fact that the user may buy a cheap x86 box (or already have one lying about), make them buy an expensive (relative to x86) PPC box to run an OS that has been sold to a half dozen companies with little to no support or new software for 10 or so years.
Now instead of potential users thinking ‘this is great – what can I install this on in my house!’ you have them thinking ‘should I really pay all this money for something that has been a disaster for the last 10 years… hmm, maybe I should get a XXX (mac, whatever) instead’
And then to add insult to injury screenshots of the new platform are shown running Linux. Talk about confusing your potential user market and contradicting yourself.
You won’t gain users by narrowing the niche market, making it more expensive for them to jump aboard, and starting from a shaky history.
This smacks of bad business acumen.
People have to keep in mind that the direction towards the PPC CPUs started quite some time ago and there is a large base of installed Amiga PPC powered machines. The decision to make OS 4.0 run on these machines will allow for a relatively larger base of machines for OS 4.0 to run on. The problem with a port to the x86 machines would be the endian issue with the data, not the code. I’m sure it would be a straightforward port, but it would be difficult to make legacy m68k apps run correctly unless something like UAE is used within the OS (which it isn’t).
To port to the PowerPC wasn’t bad business, just a bit risky. Amiga owners looking to upgrade will find it a natural path and be able to reuse a lot of their software and some of their H/W (if they have a PCI busboard). The costs are also reasonable when compared to existing outdated H/W.
Running the Amiga OS on an x86 platform would relegate the OS to the 2nd (or 3rd) option on a boot list. If given the choice, people tend to buy Windows software as Linux hasn’t really proved to be a commercial success from an application program point of view. When I hit a brick wall with scanner software on my x86 Linux machine, I had to install Windows 98 (regretably). AmigaOS on an x86 machine would face similar issues when people come across the same issue.
> Running the Amiga OS on an x86 platform would relegate the OS to the 2nd (or 3rd) option on a boot
So instead, it’ll be an option only on a totally separate, limited-quantity, mail-order only, over-expensive, closed hardware platform. Yes, that sounds like a *great* way to get new AmigaOS users!
Well done to Emanuel for injecting a note of realism to the proceedings.
Emanuel’s petition is for opening up Amiga OS to additional POP motherboards, not x86 motherboards. His petition would like to see the other two or three POP boards be able to run OS 4.0 as well. It’s pretty obvious that Amiga has tried to focus on the existing base of Amiga users. A move to the x86 platform would undoubtedly be the last straw for a large portion of the PPC owning Amiga users.
For the AmigaOS to become successful again, Amiga Inc. and it’s partners are providing a natural upgrade path for “classic” users. Part of this is to emulate in a natural way the existing m68k based software as well as run the existing PPC software. A move to the x86 platform wouldn’t be able to accomplish these goals in the same manner a PPC platform can in as short an amount of time. This is in part due to the fact the m68k and PPC are “big endian” machines and data won’t need any byte swapping.
The Amiga market is a niche market. Opening it up to the x86 platform isn’t going to make it any less “niche”. The advantage of being able to use off the shelf PCI hardware on relatively modern CPU’s is good news to most Amiga users.
I do agree that a PowerPC Amiga would offer classic Amiga owners a more solid migration at this point of time. (some 68k libraries are still needed to be emulated/existing Amiga PPC applications/etc) I also think Amiga’s future vision with “user should not need to worry about OS or CPU with regard to content” is very promising and would be amazing based on what I have seen so far of AmigaDE.
Also thank you Mike Bouma for this excellent article!
>If it comes in a FlexATX or a MicroATX form
http://www.bplan-gmbh.de/gfx/pegasos/pegasos_art_e.html
(sorry guys couldn’t resist)
Won’t run OS4 for “political” reasons, but ..
http://www.morphos.de/
Allready runs on the new HW, and has been seen in action instead of screenshots only.
By Anonymous, 14.50 hours
[i]”Hi
In the future Amiga One can use BOCHS / CrossOver for running X86 applications. IBM / Motorola will announce 2 GHz PowerPC in 2003. “/[i]
WRONG
Crossover is based on WINE – WINE is an X86/Windows runtime
Wine Is Not an Emulator
Wine , and derivatives, will only run on X86 CPUs.
If you read the article os 4 is booting(running) on the amigaOne
The only HTML/UBB codes allowed are / (bold) and [i]/[i] (italics).
In my posting above, you can see where I used a [i] text /[i]
pairing. You can also see it didn’t work…
What’s the actual way to get Italicisation?
whataa?
>If you read the article os 4 is booting(running) on the amigaOne
If you open your eyes you will see that it only says that
they now know how to load the kernel on the A1.
No mention of a running kernel.
No mention of a running 68k-emu (on the A1).
No mention of intuition being ported to PPC.
If you think that adds up to “OS4 is running on the A1” …
be my guest.
Great to see the world’s greatest computer system coming back. I am (pre)ordering mine today !
Call me crazy, but I like the look of Workbench in 2.04, 3.0/3.1, and 3.9 (in 3.5 ReAction was not polished enough IMO) even if they could’ve used some more color. But I can see how some people would prefer something a bit more ‘modern’, sachrine-with-eyecandy look. There are four very impressive themes at http://www.nowee.org/overshaker/index.html for Amiga OS 3.5/3.9. I could see five or so such themes being included with Amiga OS 4 to provide the oomph some are looking for… Along with the ‘Classic’ style, which I prefer.
Perhaps Amiga Inc. and/or Hyperion and/or OverShaker could make a contest of producing default themes for OS 4? Anybody now of any other Amiga OS theme sites that might have any good candidates?
What’s this?
There’s a new OS on the horizon that might actually give me an
alternative to using the “standard”? Why not, I’ll give it a go.
Okay, I’m kinda lying here, I know about it already & just wanted to
say I’m on the band wagon too.
For those who are concerned about pricing issues, read around & you
might be pleasantly suprised.
The AmigaOne board has current standard “innards”, PCI, AGP, USB
& bla bla.. Fair enough drivers to run the hardware doesn’t just
appear, but I’m sure you will be able to take your current computer
apart & save spending your money on new graphics cards, sound cards,
network cards & use them in this beast (Says with a little passion).
I’ve been using my Amiga for as long as I can remember now & think
it’s a crime when I see its unfortunate past being used by people in
an attempt to soil its (Potentially) rosey future.
Try it, you just might. . . .
Nice little article Mike.
~Seedy~,
in the first message of yours, you forgot to close the italics < /I > (you had the / outside of the <> so obviously that is not valid HTML),
while on the second message, you just copied/pasted my message about html underneath the form. What you did not do was to be careful how to use this sentense! That text contained sample of how to use bold and italics. Therefore, you bolded your whole message.
You were just not careful *twice*, there is nothing wrong with the current code. The problem lies in your message and in your uncarefulness.
>Wrong CrossOver not Emulator
Yes. But BOCHS is an X86 emulator for Linux PowerPC!
It is possible to run Wine and CrossOver on top of Linux PowerPC and Amiga One using BOCHS.
http://www.winehq.com
This article cant be further from the truth. The system isnt a new Amiga system in anyway. IT is a mac clone and a poor one at that/ Way underpowered and the os sucks. The editor needs to get a factual interview and not from the source he got it from. Windows doesnt multitaks and its not 32bit . These are just a couple of wrong things. The whole article is screwed up to the point of leaving out realvent information .
I don’t think the Amiga hardware is the focus of the article. The cool new thing is AmigaOS 4.
When it comes to a “real” Amiga hardware platform, it would take definitely take something more than what is being offered. Not having all the capabilities of the original Amiga 1000 is sad. There should be more cool, interesting and amazing hardware features vs. less.
Perhaps if AmigaOS 4 were ported to the XBox… 😉
#m
Thank you but I suggest you have a look below at the instructions below the text entry box. It says that The tags are closed by / < i > and / < b >
I followed the instructions you give absolutely..
so
“You were just not careful *twice*, there is nothing wrong with the current code. The problem lies in your message and in your uncarefulness.” Apply that to yourself please. – and try to avoid insulting people when they are right…..
I guess that if I put the / within the tag it will work..
The instructions said to me:
One can use either < > or [ ] for your bold and italic codes.
There is still a need for proper end tags.
this text is bold using [ ]
this text is italics using < >
#m
Y’know – it makes sense looking at it like that.
The text below is still potentially misleading to a beginner.. but I’m just going to step outside and shoot myself…
If you can muster a smile and a bullet, well, you’re one hell of a man 😉
#m
Because x86 pagesized concept is a pain and PPC is much more elegant in handling code.
Ever wrote a line in assembler ? Believe me, when you will, you’ll understand why PPC and not x86. That’s why PPC programs can be more efficient than their x86 counterpart but I know, these days noone never program in assembler anymore. But when you know these concepts, you do far better work than C++, whatever only programmers.
So long live AmigaOS4 PPC (I love the idea of having this one). I hope a good SDK will follow/precede ?
JaMi.
MOS RULEZ
Go to hell Amiga Inc. !!!!!!!!!!!!
No, im not. Intent/AmigaDE has thousands of developers.
The AmigaSDK was sold in the thousands, and i dont know about intent, but it would have much more.
Hi,
the Amiga OS4 screenshots look great in spite of the ugly colors.
Where can I now buy a complete Amiga with 600MHz G3 and OS4? A slimline desktop with an Amiga label? Until there isn’t one to test in a warehouse like Karstadt, it is all vapourware IMO.
regards, Ludwig
The AmigaOS4 has not even been released and some powerfull games and applications have already been ported.
Check thi out for more information
http://www.amigaflame.demon.co.uk/amiguid.htm
Regards
Darren
(newbee)
I have no respect for people trolling on a forum, trying to pursuade that a new alternative sucks, only to say after that that another rival product is better.
Do you guys truly think by trying to ruin the reputation of the Amiga community, this will in anyway help MorphOS get better noticed? Dream on.
Better would be write good articles like this one, and tell why people should ever need to take notice of MorphOS. What advantages does MorphOS offer by itself? Why should someone owning a WindowsXP PC or Mac want to switch to MorphOS? What can’t they do with WinXP or Mac what CAN be done with MorphOS? Why would an AmigaOS fan want to use MorphOS? To emulate 68k AmigaOS? I think you guys are sad individuals.
“Because x86 pagesized concept is a pain and PPC is much more elegant in handling code.”
Ah, yeah… PPC is smarter. What about performances?
With the “Intel vs AMD war”, x86 has gotten beyond any PPC when it comes to performances…
“Ever wrote a line in assembler ? Believe me, when you will, you’ll understand why PPC and not x86.”
Yeah, since all developers write their programs in assembler.
The 600MHz A1 is not a product meant to attract the masses, just a steppingstone to keep people happy. And both A1 and Pegasos are cheap PPC products. The alternatives all cost beyond $1000.
The A1 has a MAI PPC chipset also used by Apple.
Pegasos is a hybrid x86 VIA chipset / custom logic.
None of them is more Amiga than the other. The difference is that one is running MOS, the other will be running PPC AmigaOS.
Both Pegasos and A1 are steppingstones. Not the hardware that will take over the world. They weren’t meant to. People arguing otherwize should really take a look at themselfes and ask what the hell they are going on about? What are you people talking about? There will be hardware beyond the A1 and the Pegasos. Some folks tried to create the killer hardware; it can’t be done. They all died trying. Even the original Amiga team relied on peripheral hardware sales during what I would call near-sparetime-development. It’s impossible to found a company for the sole purpose of creating a new computer, doing only that and survive. There must be income during development either from steppingstones or sales in other markets. Investor schemes doesn’t work in real life. Investors get nervous when everybody around them tell them that it’s lost money because x86 will always rule, they pull out and everything goes down the drain.
About x86 vs PPC. x86 have been and is still less efficient and still miss out on features that the Motorola option provide. PPC is next generation, x86 is not. x86 will always be market leading in the x86 market. Always cost a buck less. And there’s a reason for it. The same reason why an 8-bit CPU that cost a $5 today, costed $500 at it’s release. It’s living dead selling on being cheap due to development costs being fully payed for, continously jumping to a faster integration technology. Better cooling systems. More and more GHz, closer and closer to the THz. And beyond. Still lacking next generation features. When they finally come Motorola will have the generation after the PowerPC ready and waiting.
Who’s missing out? And is it in dollars or features?
The only reason x86 currently is faster is due to the x86 software monopoly. I believe this should not have to go on forever. At a certain point of time computer manufacturers need to make the jump to a better designed CPU architecture. In the end we will all benefit from much faster, smaller, less power hungry or overheating processors. The development costs of cleaner CPUs need to be covered somehow.
The OS is just as important though. WinXP and Linux continue to feel slow nomatter what kind of horsepower you throw at it.
There have been no tests that show real life performance x86 vs PPC. 1+1=2 benchmarks count for nothing. The number of RC-5 keys cracked count for nothing. Q2 fps counts for nothing. Because they are all C/C++. Let me see some contests between assembler optimized PPC code and the usual x86 crap. Assembler is unusual, because PPC is unusual. Assembler is used in real life when programming PPC apps because it’s a viable option. It’s is not a viable option when using x86 (it’s a jungle with no machete, while PPC has a paved road). Or perhaps that’s like cheating? Like nVidias faster drivers? Why should we stick to bad code just because it the alternative can’t use it due to hardware issues? Real life performance counts. Real life programming counts too. It’s like demanding that the PPC benchmark should be performed using interpreted Basic and x86 should be allowed to use compiled C/C++. Get real.
but I know, these days noone never program in assembler anymore
Correction: not many people program in assembler these days, but they’re out there. You just met one.
“The AmigaOS4 has not even been released and some powerfull games and applications have already been ported.”
Wrong. These games and applications have been announced not ported. Anyone can make an announcement.
They’ve also announced Mario 64 and the next Final Fantasy game for the Amiga. They can announce anything they like because they know the remaining Amiga users will forgive them for anything so long as they keep talking the talk.
>The A1 has a MAI PPC chipset also used by Apple.
Apples built their own northbridges
and the A1 has a MAI northbridge plus a VIA southbridge.
>Pegasos is a hybrid x86 VIA chipset / custom logic.
The Pegasos uses the same northbridge as the A1, but a
never version of the VIA southbridge.
JetRacer is a friggin idiot, he got everything WRONG!
ANyway, wake me when I can run AmigaOS4 on my PowerBook Titanium. Why the hell would anybody downgrade to the A1? So they can run…..what killer app again?
> ANyway, wake me when I can run AmigaOS4 on my PowerBook Titanium.
Unless Amiga Inc. will listen to their potential customers ( http://www.petitiononline.com/amigaos/ ), that’s not even allowed to be a hypothetical possibility worth considering.
Good article and screensots!
Thanks
Emanuel Seehund, go away with your FUD petition already. Amiga Inc is a software company only, so they NEED to have some form of copy protection. The one they decided to use for Eyetech’s AmigaOne will cause no hassle for the enduser. It is not like AmigaOS4 will magicly work on any untested PPC hardware.
Stop it, use MorphOS instead if you want?