You have installed MorphOS to a compatible machine, but… now what? You could always go and install a pre-configured package like Chrysalis, but you would end up with a system configured for someone else’s taste and you still wouldn’t know how to actually use the operating system. If you are in this situation and would like to learn how MorphOS works, this is a tutorial for you! The tutorial will guide you through the things you should do and notice after a fresh install, with practical examples from basic configuration options to installing new software. It won’t cover all the details and is just an opinion on how to proceed, but it should give you some knowledge how to continue on your own and make your own decisions.
I bought a used PowerBook last weekend – a 17″ PowerBook G4 1.33Ghz with 512MB RAM with 2GB on the way – specifically for MorphOS and its recent 3.10 release, and I’m having a total blast. This guide is a great first stop after installing MorphOS, as is the accompanying tips and tricks article. Amiga-like operating systems have some very unique paradigms and ways of doing things, and articles like these really ease you into them, while offering a first few glimpses into the absolutely insane amount of customization options they offer.
Glad you posted this, After an earlier article I went and bought a Mac mini G4, It should be here soon and then the Morph OS fun can begin.
I registered MorphOS 3.10 for my old iBook G4. I had OSX installed on it previously but that was pretty slow on this old hardware. With MorphOS, it is usable again 🙂
MorphOS wasn’t always faster than OSX… did they fix the “super slow when no more vram” bug? ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvmWIqqRR-g )
(and was it patched against Spectre? ;P )
A couple of years ago I had an email conversation with a MorphOS dev who said that they had fixed the vram bug. I have no way to personally verify this
Originally I did my own set-up of MorphOS but later tried the Chrysalis pre-config. I suggest you try it if only to check out the selection of software. I found the software repositories to be a bit of a maze to navigate compared to just clicking on each of the installs that come with Chrysalis. You can still use the tutorial to re-config or go back to a reinstall later. The OS is somewhat alien compared to MSWin, GNU and OSX, so a preconfig can help you adapt.
I wish they would port this to Raspberry Pi. This would give this OS a big boost.
It would. It would also be nice to have some compelling reason to use it — aside that it is AmigaOS adjacent.
TBH you can run Amiga OS on a RPI.
https://gunkrist79.wixsite.com/amibian
Yes it is emulated. But a lot of people in the Amiga think it is pretty viable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HZXM6cLVUg
The video is long, but this guy knows his stuff.
Viable for what? That is my question: What is the compelling reason to use MorphOS (or your suggestion of AmigaOS)?
On the rare occasions I want to play an Amiga game, I can run an emulator as well as the next person.
I like that MorphOS is small and light, but that isn’t a reason to use it if the apps I need aren’t there.
And it is great that it runs on legacy hardware, but I want it to run on the much more powerful computer on my desk.
I am perfectly fine paying for MorphOS, even though I think their pricing model is foolish. But I need a compelling reason to do so. What is it?
Having a go at using Amiga OS3 again, launching WHDLoad games, using the thousand of old pro software that ran on it. It’s all for fun and nostalgia, that’s about it.
I am having trouble seeing how this relates to what I wrote
I know it is a long video but the guy goes through why you would want to use it.
No sorry if you can’t sum up a couple of points a single reason from a 44 minute video I see no reason to watch it.
Like I said, If I want to run an emulator — which I implied I don’t — I already know how to do so. Nor was I talking about AmigaOS.
I was asking what the compelling reason to run MorphOS was, aside from the fact that it was associated with the amiga.
It doesn’t run on modern hardware, it is limited in it’s browser since it can’t use modern versions of webkit, and it needs compelling apps.
So let’s expand to include running AmigaOS as well as MorphOS: Why should I use it as my daily driver? Not for a nostalgic experience or to play a couple of games; but to actually use it as my daily driver. What can it do better? What are the killer apps? Does it have what I need to be productive using it as my primary OS?
Fun.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And that is a reason. It is shocking it has taken years for anyone to suggest that one. Bravo.
That being said, it isn’t a compelling reason for me, and somehow I don’t think the MorphOS team think that is their reason for existence.
That being said, I am not here to criticize other people’s choices; have fun!
Calm down.
Nothing I wrote was sarcastic, hostile, angry, or hyperbolic. I don’t think that was called for
Edited 2018-04-10 18:53 UTC
Nostalgia can be a real killer.
——–
Edit: You do acknowledge this in the later post of course, so not attempting to reopen an argument. It just strikes me as a curiously unfair test too often made against hobbyist operating systems to suggest they should strive to be a ‘primary’ OS.
Edited 2018-04-11 10:25 UTC
I will not address the rest of your post, you appointed yourself well. I personally don’t fully agree, but you already knew that
However I do want to say that as soon as the OS is made a commercial venture, it isn’t hobbyist anymore. I don’t ask this question of AROS.
All I am asking is for the elevator pitch for OS. That thing you say to get people excited about using it. I find it odd that people really don’t have one for MorphOS.
And sure, Nostalgia is a reason, but does it really apply to MorphOS? It isn’t AmigaOS, it is AmigaOS adjacent operating system that is mostly AmigaOS compatible and contains an emulation layer.
So that begs the question: Why not use AmigaOS (possibly in emulation) if your goal is nostalgia?
This is what I am saying MorphOS is an odd duck.
There’s also Happiga, it’s pretty great.
Absolutely gorgeous desktop!
What? Take away the wallpaper and it looks like every other desktop.
I just bought a PowerMac G5 off of eBay to run MorphOS on it. Can’t wait to try it out!
It’s the bane of Amiga-like OSes to always be relegated to CPUs that the mainstream has discarded. If this OS ran on X64 or ARM it would be so much more relevant.
Tell that to the AROS developers.
True for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS but there is also a third Amiga OS: AROS which runs on x86.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06m8pF_8JpM
Dan Wood has a good overview of the operating system.
Looking forward to a review, Thom!
One day, could you add to the post or add some comments about your impressions of MorphOS as a usable operating system please?
The major showstopper for MorphOS is actually the browser situation. there is Odyssey. That one is not bad (it’s nice indeed), but unfortunately development got a bit out of pace. Major problem is that webkit engine gets used and the main development branch does no longer support ppc/big endian. Hence Odyssey stucks with a bit outdated webkit engine.
Next prob is: JS is slow, there is no webkit compatible JS-JIt on ppc available. And a hardware accelerated Cairo would speed up things, too.
These are the main issues for the browser situation.
Apart from that the system runs nice. It’s unsecure of course, but with its little popularity you are not too unsafe just by its obscurity.
Next thing is some key applications are missing. Especially office applicatios are not on a comparable level, things like skype or such are of course also not available. Browser based servives are often okay though.
Nevertheless it has some actual appeal. At least for me and hence I use it very much (it’s my most used system). Then again I am an old Amiga nut and like the continuity.
If (a very big if) MorphOS will make an ISA switch to x64 most of the issues can get solved. On ppc this will probably not happen (on ppc legacy compability is one of the biggest assets and hence teh API will not get changed dramatically).
The security model is something I didn’t really thing about, and is an excellent point. Any commercial OS needs to take that into account.
The situation is worse than I realized. The most recent version of OWB seems to be for AROS and that is from 2016. The MorphOS version is older than that.
So we aren’t just talking about security holes and HTML/CSS/JS features, but simple bug fixes haven’t been addressed in this time.
That is worrisome…
It’s a bit more complicated. Some new bugfixes from the AROS Odyssey branch have been applied to the current v1.24. But the main problem is that development of webkit has ceased the ppc/big endian branch.
Additionally the main contributor of Odyssey got a family life two, three years ago or so and is now low on time. Pity for us, lucky for him 😉
Thom! Thanks for the MorphOS articles. I was recently given a 15″ PowerBook G4 that was running OSX 10.4.11. Now it happily dual-boots MorphOS 3.10.
I’ve never been in to the whole Amiga scene but it’s a real kick playing with MorphOS on this ancient laptop that now feels like it could run circles around newer OSs.
This is such a perfect set of articles for OSNews. I’m sure this site is helping sell licenses. I know I wouldn’t have bought one if Thom hadn’t posted.
I can’t believe how well it works on this ancient machine.
Keep up the posts! Any advice on software would be good. I’ll start diving into the Amiga/MorphOS community, of course.
If this gets put on modern readily available hardware you could consider this for use if:
Chromium, SSH (does it have this), Citrix, and…yeah, that’s it…if just those existed (along with the standard dev tools that you expect for a platform to bring)….you could actually get work done on this system is many environments.
Just leave “window texture” alone, many AmigaOS setups were uglyfied by it…