Read here for a not-so-short first-impressions review of the developer pre-release version of AmigaOS4.
First Impressions Review of AmigaOS4-Prerelease
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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This is a great review. But should have added some screen shtos. Anyways a great review
The reviewer mentions AmigaONE.
What is AmigaONE?
Can I install AmigaOS4 on a i386 (or compatible)?
I used Amiga500 and 1200 but since 7 years I am a PC user so I don’t know about the developments in the Amiga scene.
Thanks for all answers
No I’m sorry you can’t install it on a x86 it only works on the AmigaONE which is specialist PPC motherboard that Amiga Inc made for the A1
AmigaONE is an expensive PPC based board.
No AmigaOS4 won’t run on an i386, and is unlikely ever to (natively anyway, maybe with pearpc..).
If people want to move from x86 to PPC, they’ll most likely buy a Mac instead of an Amiga.
“If people want to move from x86 to PPC, they’ll most likely buy a Mac instead of an Amiga.”
I doubt if many people care enough about the CPU in a computer to move for that alone. They would move to a Mac because it has the reputation of being a better and more secure OS.
At present, the revival of the Amiga is at an early stage, and the hardware and software are both “pre-release”. They are aimed at those with a very strong preference for the Amiga environment, and particularly at programmers. There is something to be said for being a big fish in a little pool.
If somebody just wants to try out a PPC, Amiga-style computer, they should probably either wait until next year or look at the Pegasos, which is further on in its development. If your memories are of the A500 as a games console, get an emulator (Amiga Forever). The new machines are not games consoles.
Yes, AmigaOS 4 will NOT work on Mac.
@ anonymous
> What is AmigaONE?
Some well presented AmigaOne information is available at the IntuitionBase website:
http://www.intuitionbase.com/
Yes, AmigaOS 4 will NOT work on Mac.
And like that, millions of potential users were lost forever…
——————
Yes, AmigaOS 4 will NOT work on Mac.
And like that, millions of potential users were lost forever…
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And still, that is not why it is being brought back to life as a new computer.
For many years people have used amiga, and the number of those people were falling… And it is about time they came with a new upgrade to this wonderfull machine.
It is not the old machine being polished, it is a new system, wich you alll should think of as: a crossbreed of mac and amiga.
pecialist PPC motherboard that Amiga Inc made for the A1
Sorry, but you’re wrong here. Amiga Inc didn’t make this hardware. It’s Mai board relabeled to AmigaOne. And that’s all.
> you alll should think of as: a crossbreed of mac and amiga
Actually, it’s probably more like a PC than a Mac. About the only thing in common between an AmigaONE and a Mac is the processor architecture (PowerPC).
Unlike the Mac, it doesn’t have OpenFirmware – rather it uses UBoot (the user interface looks superficially like OF, but there’s no Forth interpreter, so it’s not programmable like OF). On the other hand, it has a PC southbridge (VIA686B) and all the usual PC I/O ports. It even has an x86 emulator built into the BIOS for booting PC graphics and SCSI cards.
Cheers,
Rich
Oki… Still i think of it like this…
Well as a big Amiga fan I don’t give a damn about the new machines. They are basically a replica of PCs or Mac nothing special. This is not made Amiga this big. Amiga was big because of it’s excellent architecture using custom chips such as paula,agnus… These hardwares are no different than any hardware you buy in bestbuy. Real Amiga died, I don’t think anybody doing anything special design architecture. We need companies such as phase 5 to relieve Amiga.
They are just called Amiga but they missing their Amiga soul…. which is what Amiga an Amiga today.
…which is what made Amiga an Amiga today!
@ Emre
Then maybe you could just settle with AmigaOS4.0 for the classic Amigas? AmigaOS4 will be available for A1200 and A4000 Amigas equipped with PPC expansion boards.
I Agree, the classics were great, especially as the competition at the time was sleeping and especially in the multimedia/innovations department. However now the are multi-billion dollar worth specialized companies producing mainstream PC/Mac/Amiga compatible sound & graphics chips and other devices & expansions. These companies dwarf any Amiga-related companies and IMO it’s irrational to believe that any of these market Gorillas would make solutions exclusively for Amiga computers any time soon. I also believe that it is neither rational to believe Amiga-related companies could compete with these companies and their market wide accepted standards. I believe the OS is work enough already and an open hardware market is a great advantage in the long run.
“They are basically a replica of PCs or Mac nothing special”
Just as today’s PCs and Macs are just replicas of each other, and have just as little relation to the original PCs and Macs.
“I don’t think anybody doing anything special design architecture. We need companies such as phase 5 to relieve Amiga.”
There are plenty of such companies making advanced graphics chipsets and so on. It’s just that they’re not tied to a particular platform or motherboard but instead come on either motherboards or expansion cards – I think that’s a step forward.
Choosing the Kill or Continue button has in almost all instances I’ve tried (mostly related to games and some other minor programs) caused the program window and requester to freeze up completely. I think I only came upon one instance where the workspace was seemingly cleared of the offending program windows. Interestingly enough such “semi craches” very rarely seem to bring down the system as a whole. I.e. you can move the frozen windows to the side and keep working on other stuff -or at least save your work. This still gives me the impression that when it comes to overall stability, AmigaOS4 is already a very mature system.
As far as I remember it has always been like this. At least it was so on my Amiga1200/ADOS 3.0
For the curious readers here is more info:
http://www.intuitionbase.com/static.php?section=en_pre-release
Just as today’s PCs and Macs are just replicas of each other, and have just as little relation to the original PCs and Macs.
Yeah right, tell me the difference between a 1985 made mobo and 2004 made mobo. PCI instead of ISA, usb instead of some legacy interface, 80386 instead of p4. Well of course technology is advancing. This is not what I’m telling. What makes Amiga different was the technology/innovation. It was so advanced. For ex, 1985 made Amiga was able to show 4096 color on the screen while PCs were not even able show a color on the screen. Amiga came with perfect sound qualities while PCs were only beeping at that time. Now look at today, what is it special that Amiga brings to the table, nothing. It is the same PC board without any speciality, just put a PPC cpu and call it Amiga. You know what todays Amiga’s are called ps2 or gamecube. They are just not called Amiga.
Don’t forgot that in those days PC’s where not sold as or even thought as multimedia machines while the Amiga and Apple Mac’s where.
So the PC’s didn’t really try to compete in that area and they needed make cheap office machines not Desktop Publishing or be a gaming console that you can use as desktop. Those days PC’s had game and multimedia possibilities as an afterthought. Like the Playstation has as afterthought a Linux distro for it. It just needed to accept keyboard input, do some tricks with the data and store it somewhere.
Remember that in those days an Amiga or an Atari ST was called a homecomputer and the IBM Clone’s PC’s
So its unfair to compare a 1985 PC with an Amiga. Compare the Amiga to an Atari ST or an Apple or for gaming uses to a Nintendo/Sega.
As I’m sure if there was a market at that time for a multimedia PC there would have been one.
I want to add that back in the days I was told that the Amiga was good for its graphics and the Atari ST was good for music (also due to the build int MIDI). Apple was for desktop publishing.
And I think that the Amiga and Atari ST (which were released at the same time) showed the PC industry that there was a market for homecomputers, that is something better then the C64/Nintedo but not with Apple’s price, and that has multimedia. I think you can say that Amiga/Atari is what happens when Nintendo and Apple make babies.
“…AmigaONE which is specialist PPC motherboard that Amiga Inc made for the A1”
No, wrong. It is a re-labelt Teron Board (from MAI Inc) by Eyetech Ltd under Licence from Amiga Inc. for the brand name “Amiga”.
“Yeah right, tell me the difference between a 1985 made mobo and 2004 made mobo. PCI instead of ISA, usb instead of some legacy interface, 80386 instead of p4. Well of course technology is advancing.”
Yeah right, tell me the difference between a 1985 made mobo and a 2004 made mobo. PCI instead of Zorro, USB instead of some legacy interface, PPC instead of 68000. Well of course technology is advancing.
“This is not what I’m telling. What makes Amiga different was the technology/innovation. It was so advanced. For ex, 1985 made Amiga was able to show 4096 color on the screen while PCs were not even able show a color on the screen.”
And as smurf975 points out, PCs and Macs have also changed their roles in what they are popular in. The Amiga still is trying to be different – it’s a proprietry PPC box rather than a generic x86 clone.
“You know what todays Amiga’s are called ps2 or gamecube.”
I can run Amiga software, and do Amiga programming on these things then?
I always considered AmigaOS4 to be in the same state as Rhapsody just before it turned into MacOSX. They have some things in common:
– They look and behave almost like their predecessors
– They have a much more stable and advanced core than their predecessors
– Both OS’es were the final transition into being native for a different processor.
The OS needs a few years. I’m looking forward to see where it’ll be in 2-3 years, and if it’ll be just as interesting as when MacOSX came.
:They have some things in common:
:- They look and behave almost like their predecessors
If I have understood it correctly, OSX is 98% a new OS.
The OSX internals are 100% new.
AmigaOS instead is based on the AmigaOS3.x codes.
ExecSG is a re-implemented AmigaOS kernel having all original exec features + some new. Rest of the OS is mainly recompilations of AOS3.x codes & updates & fixes. Big work done on the AmigaOS is that they have cut the ties to old HW. AOS3.x was heavily tied to old AmigaHW.
:- They have a much more stable and advanced core than their predecessors
AOS4 execSG has new possibilities for protection from misbehaving apps. But AOS exec itself was never unstable.
:- Both OS’es were the final transition into being native for a different processor.
AmigaOS4 is mainly a port of AmigaOS3.x to a new CPU + new features. AmigaOS4 runs legacy apps seamlessly.
OSX is a totally new OS (Unix running old apps in emulation box and new apps natively).
:The OS needs a few years. I’m looking forward to see where it’ll be in 2-3 years,
Same pre-emptively multitasking AOS has been available since 1985. Now it “just” has a new CPU & HW to explore.