These are the latest OS4 screenshots showing a general workbench shot showing IBrowse, SoundPlayer, and the new layers library in action that allows shaped and masked windows, a few 68k programs and two shots from Descent 2.
Latest AmigaOS 4 Screenshots
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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What software repositories exists for Amiga software, now? I was reading the *new* BeDoper about BeBits, and I was wondering where the Amiga software was being kept, nowadays.
That newest screen shot looks hella good. Am I really about to drop $1000 on a new Amiga?
Sandwich Boy: the best repository for Amiga software is Aminet, http://us.aminet.net/
Aminet I believe.
@Siliconvalleyguy
“Why can’t any one come up with a new concept like the new Sun Java machine that uses real 3D environments where your document can be flipped over and written on the back or can be shoved to the side like filing papers on your desk…”
Sounds like Sun already have.
“The rest of these guys have no imagination. Gee, lets see if we can make yet another OS that looks and acts EXACTLY like all the others. BORING!”
Let me guess, you aren’t that familiar with Amiga stuff?
The fonts look nice. This is the first of these “classic” OS’s that has nicely AA fonts; at least from what I’ve seen.
An oldish preview of the new AmiDock (since it was mentioned) is here:
http://www.aminet.net/util/boot/AmiDock.readme
AmiDock (along with ToolManager, which I liked better, personally), go back a long way. Apparently, it was originally indended to mimic NeXT:
http://www.aminet.net/util/boot/AmiDock.readme
Oops. AmiDock preview:
http://os.amiga.com/os4/OS4AmiDock.php
I noticed the “dock” on the bottom of the screen. Hmm… looks kinda familiar. Where have I seen that before? Oh, yes… now I remember… in MacOS X!!! Gee… AmigaOS 4 is losing it’s originality already. Sad. 🙂
Luposian
The Dock has been around long before OSX. In fact, OSX got it from NeXT.
the idea of a Dock is quite old. I ran one with OS/2 and NeXT. The AmiDock has been included with AmigaOS since the 90’s.
It’s quite prevelent on neo-Amiga OS’s, found in both OS4 and MorphOS.
Descent 2? What the heck has vintage games to do with the apperance of AmigaOS 4? I’ll bet quite some money that Descent 2 looks just about the same on Windows, Mac, and Amiga. I understand if Hyperion is porting a game and want to show it off, but it really doesn’t help AmigaOS 4.0 PR-wise.
“The Dock has been around long before OSX. In fact, OSX got it from NeXT. ”
Yes and guess who bought NeXT…
Amiga OS4 has been in development since…. god since forever, every month we see more screenshots, but we never actually see anything launch. I loved my amiga, it was by far the best computer I’ve ever used and I’d love to see it come back, but at this rate, OS4 won’t be ready to ship for another decade!
I agree.
Does anyone know what font and font rendering system is in use in the Amiga OS in those screenshots?
seriously, what strong arguments are there?
AmigaOS looks pretty much like it did when I left it ten years ago, except that they have tried to glue some QNX onto it.
I know that AmigaOS is a good OS technically speaking, it’s still modern in so many ways, but it has such a poor desktop environment and all the apps are so inconsistant even compared to linuxland.
I am indeed looking for an OS to replace windows for music production. MacOS can do it, but it’s way to expensive to me. BeOS could do it if the apps were there. Linux will be able to do it once Tracktion becomes available (if ever). AmigaOS could be a solution, but I haven’t seen a usable (and modern) HDD-recording app for it yet. And I would have to invest a lot of money in new hardware. So for now, Linux looks like the best choice.
As for general productivity, Linux and BeOS both have better desktop environments and apps.
So seriously, what does OS4 have to offer me except a trip to nostalgyland? I take that ride way cheaper with Amithlon.
It’s nice to see some AA fonts in AmigaOS
(yeah, there are some positive things)
I fully agree. I remember watching a demo video of OS4 a while ago and 70% of the movie showed Quake being played in OS4. Oh yeah, very exciting, I’ve never seen Quake before.
They’d have to show me what I can do in OS4 that I can’t do in DOS to impress me.
OS4 runs the FT2Engine, a port of FreeType2, according to the feature list document.
@Luposian, jbett
I noticed the “dock” on the bottom of the screen. Hmm… looks kinda familiar. Where have I seen that before? Oh, yes… now I remember… in MacOS X!!! Gee… AmigaOS 4 is losing it’s originality already.
The original version of that Amiga Dock predates Mac OSX. I can say this because I uninstalled that original version after the AmigaOS 3.9 upgrade installed it (possibly OS 3.5 as well; I forget). I preferred ToolManager. The next year, I bought an iBook with the very first version of Mac OS X. I’d like to add that IMHO the ToolManager Dock is superior in functionality to that of Mac OSX. Alas, I can’t speak for the AmigaDock.
As someone has pointed out, the origin of Mac OSX’s dock is NeXT.
Regardless, there have been no claims to originality in AmigaOS 4. The whole point of OS4 is bring AmigaOS up to par with the expectations of a modern computing environment. Any innovation is likely to be in future development.
That said… the Amiga shell beats Mac OSX shell hands down for ease-of-use and seamless integration of command-line and GUI. Upgrading Amiga shell to KingCON is even better. I’ve heard that Windows has started to catch up with Amiga on this… but I can’t say, because I don’t use Windows if I can help it.
Actually, the idea of a dock was first floated by Acorn Computing in their computers. Later, the idea was copied in the very first edition of Microsoft Windows. They dropped the idea and went with the look that eventually became Windows 2.0
Well, if you’re talking about CLI/GUI integration, I’m afraid KDE has that down pat. Perhaps someone who’s used both can validate which one is beter in that respect.
The most pleasent computer enviroment that I’ve had to date was my Amiga 4000 68060 w/ graphics & sound card. It was just zippy!. even in 1999 when I sold it, Windows and Mac users were still stunned by its response time. I hope OS4 feels the same on a g4/g5?
@Joe Luser
So first off, I was talking about Mac OSX and Windows. All the same, I think the statement also holds for KDE. The worst that can happen from this, is that I learn about some functionality in KDE (which I use daily) of which I wasn’t aware, so…
Well, if you’re talking about CLI/GUI integration, I’m afraid KDE has that down pat. Perhaps someone who’s used both can validate which one is beter in that respect.
From the Amiga shell, it was a snap to set global environment variables. If the shell is upgraded to KingCON, there is a very nice copy & paste ability that. It is easy AND INTUITIVE to move the cursor about on the command line, to highlight text with the mouse and delete that text.
Quite frankly, KDE lacks that. The mouse is unhelpful when it comes to positioning the cursor. The keyboard commands necessary for moving about the command line are not intuitive (“Ctrl+A” as opposed to the Amiga’s “Shift+Left arrow”) and I still don’t know how to delete a word. In fact, I think the keyboard shortcuts vary according to the Unix shell used (but I don’t even know which shell I use most of the time).
As far as I can tell, KDE’s shells are still nothing more than the text-based Unix shell, outputting curses or maybe ncurses text to a terminal window device, with some nice menu options thrown in. The shells are not genuine GUI applications in themselves. I can put several shells in one window by using tabs… but each shell is, in the end, just a text-based application. This was not the case on Amiga: the shells are genuine GUI applications.
Please do correct me if I’m wrong.
That looks like bog standard Bitstream Vera to me
Maybe one day, they’ll actually release it. Each month they delay the release, means more fracturing of the remaining Amiga community. Some can’t wait and have gone to the Pegasos/MorphOS system.
There is only one music platform – Mac. And no Macintosh is not too expensive, unless you can’t afford even an $800 eMac. The old lie that Intel based machines are cheaper than Mac has been exposed for quite some time. So, pony up and get your self a real machine to do your music work. Oh and you get a free copy of Garage Band when you buy a new Mac now. What else could you want?… Besides, you can run Linux on your new Mac if you really have to…
I happen to do audio work on my Pegasos w/ MorphOS. A free copy of ProStationAudio Titanium comes with the Pegasos.
The thing is that a $800 eMac won’t provide me with as much CPU power as a $800 x86 machine will. And considering that I allready own x86 hardware it is an expensive switch compared to linux($0)+tracktion($79). It’s not the hardware that is the problem for me, it’s the OS. Windows just doesn’t cut it.
As for GarageBand you have to be kidding me. While it may be a nice app for doodeling with ideas it can’t be used for serious work. It doesn’t even support multichannel I/0.
I’d rather use those $800 for some nice studio equipment.
There is wery good Audio HDD recording etc applications for the Amiga. Two examples are ProStation Audio and Audio Evolution. those are available for the Classic Amiga too and I would not be surprised if there will be native OS4 ports. meanwhile you can run m68k versions.
Here is ProStation Audio:
http://www.audiolabs.it/prostation/
And here is Audio Evolution:
http://www.audio-evolution.com/
I know for sure that Audio Evolution is currently being ported to OS4.