Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga OS4 development team have announced the immediate availability of another update of the Amiga OS 4.0 Developer Pre-release for all registered users. Also in addition to AmigaOne hardware and older BlizzardPPC / CyberstormPPC equipped classic Amigas, new AmigaOS4 supported PPC hardware for classic Amiga 1200 computers has recently been announced.
when is it going to be released? It’s been too long now.
Oh well, at least someone is working on it.
@ Simon Osborne
> when is it going to be released?
Sorry the answer you will get is: “When it’s done!”
Some components are still undergoing final beta-testing and but have already been demonstrated extensively at Amiga events. (Most importantly Warp3D and Petunia)
@ Simon Osborne
> It’s been too long now.
BTW if you cannot wait, all current AmigaOne buyers are able to get access to this updated version of the AmigaOS4 developer pre-release!
Gonna get some sleep now. Good night. 🙂
It (the OS) may be revived, but will it bring back the good ole days?
Did the news about the OS4 capable 400 Mhz PPC hardware for Amiga 1200/3000/4000 or standalone not reach OSNews yet?
Otherwise, here’s a link:
http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1961
Very attractive if you think A1 is too expensive, IMHO. 🙂
Gotta learn to read news items… 🙂 Sorry
At this point just port it over the the Mac PPC (or x86) architecture. WIth processor slicing (or whatever the technology is that will let you run 2 or more OSes simultaneously) this could work on macs.
Even WITHOUT processor slicing or a new G5 Chip, AmigaOS 4 (or MorphOS for that matter) could be made to run on Mac Hardware…
The authors just don’t want to do it…
Same as they don’t want to port OS4 to run on Pegasos hardware. Or any other PPC motherboards, which I feel is a big shame and a huge loss.
Forgive my ignorance… but is my impression of Amiga OS correct? (I’m not trying to be mean or start a flame war, just honestly curious.)
1) Amiga OS4 is an upgrade written by nerds/hackers for a 20 year old OS.
2) Only runs on ancient hardware.
3) Useful only as a hobby.
4) Hardly anyone cares.
Are any of these statements true? Again, not trying to be rude but I just haven’t heard Amiga mentioned since I was a wee lad.
1) Technically only about 12 yrs-old or so. The OS had several major revisions, which included modernization of some components. Here I’m thinking BOOPSI, for example, but as surely as I write that someone will argue that AmigaOS is a 20 yr-old OS. Whatever.
Also the update is being written by programmers who work for an actual company that sells actual products (game ports to AmigaOS and MacOS for example).
2) OS4 will run on modern hardware, unless you don’t consider a PPC processor and industry-standard components modern. The whole point is to make it modern.
3) I have read that companies needing embedded applications have expressed interest in the platform.
4) Hardly anyone cares whether hardly anyone cares. What’s your point?
1) Amiga OS4 is an upgrade written by nerds/hackers for a 20 year old OS.
Not really an upgrade, but more a kernel rewrite. Most of the system has been rewritten since its 3.x days to function natively on PPC CPUs.
2) Only runs on ancient hardware.
No, it only runs on PPC equipped Amigas like the BlizzardPPC/CyberstormPPC accelerators for Amiga1200 or 4000 which came in 1997, or the new AmigaOne or MicroA1 machines with 800 Mhz – 1.2 Ghz G4 PPC’s which came in 2003 or the upcoming low-cost 400 Mhz accelerator which will arrive in 2005. So you have 3 options, but soon 4. But by being PPC, it doesn’t mean it’ll run on Macs… yet.
3) Useful only as a hobby.
Currently, yes. Also a showcase in how fast (actually ridiculously fast) and small a desktop OS can be and still be fully useful. Surely an inspirational source to other operating systems. Some people use it practically full time. There’s tonnes of software for it.
Later hopefully it’s going to catch more on when the OS is released and the developers can focus more on content rather than basics.
AmigaOS4 is meant to keep its size, because it’s the Amiga way and it gives you options, you can’t easily get with other OS’es, such as run it off a computer with no moving parts. It’s supposed to fit in an 8 MB ROM.
4) Hardly anyone cares.
Amigans do. There are a few of them. 🙂
I love the Amiga, and would spend $100 for AmigaOS4 with Mac Support. Hoping someone can do a hack in the future! 🙂
Ah, well thanks for answering. There’s always something new to learn about.
I did mean “Hardly anyone cares” as a bad thing. Just wondering if there was some huge underground movement of Amiga people that are trying to take over the world (you know, with the help of the monkeys) that I’d never heard of.
I just finished installing the update & now my Panasonic
Digital Camera is accessible from the USB port, which is
more than I can say for Debian Linux. Yes, & soon ve vill
take ofer de weld!!
To clean up the question why is the AmigaOS4 not planned to release on Mac (or other hw):
1. the OS must be lisenced and spread together with the hw. Why? Simply beacuse of piracy.
2. there are no reliable docs about certain hw, especially not for Mac. Apple is trying to close the docs as tight as possbile. Yes, there is the possibilty of studying Linux sources, but frankly: is it the way of how professionals do the development?
The actual problem of AmigaOS4 is the lack of advanced browser and an office package. Both can be solved by porting open source solutions, only take time.
OTOH the embedded systems are got almost everything what is needed in this area. Small, fast, efficient.
> I love the Amiga, and would spend $100 for AmigaOS4 with Mac
> Support. Hoping someone can do a hack in the future! 🙂
I would like to have support for x86 or x86-64.
I don’t think that Hyperion will port AOS to any other HW and they won’t deliver the source.
Spend your money to free projects …
Amiga OS4 is an upgrade written by nerds/hackers for a 20 year old OS.
its a rewrite, an update and port to a more modern architecture which will greatly help future revivions and development to take advantage of new hardware and cpu’s, as well as make it scaleable across everything from pda’s to highend systems.
Only runs on ancient hardware.
the whole point is to move it to new and modren hardware. this version 4.0 will only work on amiga dedicated ppc hardware, but furture development should/could broaden the range of target hardware. there are plans by kmos already to use it in some unusual systems which hasnt got to much with typical desktops to do.
I would like to have support for x86 or x86-64.
I don’t think that Hyperion will port AOS to any other HW and they won’t deliver the source.
Spend your money to free projects …
this version wont run on anything else, but, if it survives, future version will. also supporting other free projects wont bring you amigaos which holds many advantages and superior design in a wide range of areas.
@ Henrik Mikael Kristensen
> http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1961
> Very attractive if you think A1 is too expensive, IMHO. 🙂
IMO the most important advantage of such a solutions is that you will have access to the classic Amiga chipset(s). With AmigaOne hardware you will have to use UAE-E to use chipset dependent software.
@ mini-me
> At this point just port it over the the Mac PPC (or x86)
> architecture.
I believe we should not forget the history of BeOS in this regard. Apple hardware is very nice and everything, but IMO the Amiga parties should not allow themselves to become dependent on Apple (producers of a competing OS) as their main hardware supplier. There were plans for BeOS on Apple hardware too, but Apple made it difficult for Be Inc to continue this route.
Later BeOS was ported to x86 and sadly failed to make enough profits for its continued development (also due to M$ bullying potential partners), hence Be’s focuss shift to the embedded market, which eventually marked Be Inc.’s doom due to many established competitors (WinCE, QNX, Wind River VxWorks, Linux, etc) within this market.
congrads to all Amiga owners .. one step closer to a more modern OS !!
I can’t seem to understand everything thats going on with the Amiga. I went to the link for the new hardware, and thers pictures, but no link to prices and availability. Is it supposed to be a stand alone platform on PPC ? I see Amiga news every month, but is it even available? I think a really cool OSNEWS story would be a summary of all the OS’s available for PPC based processors, status, etc.
on the other platforms, I dont forget be and the others, however here is a simple matter-of-fact kind of thing: Be had support, they had an office application, they had game developers making stuff for them, they had set things in motion and they were doing well. They just did not know how to proceed (much like Bush and the 2nd gulf war :p). As for NeXT, Jobs just set them up for failure (as much as I like steve I must admit this). The workstations were insanely priced, and so was the OS. To actually obtain an EDUCATIONAL license of NeXT you needed to spend $800!!! 😮
On the matter of who uses the amiga, if I had one, I would use it. I have games for it and I would like to play them
– The question becomes now: If you have a platform capable of emulating your old amiga, why keep it around and keep using it? If you have an alternative as to where to install OS4 or MorphOS, why install it on your amiga?
@ G Crain
> I went to the link for the new hardware, and thers pictures,
> but no link to prices and availability.
Yes it’s available and there’s a big list of AmigaOne dealers at the frontpage of http://www.amigaworld.net
Example dealer, offering full system solutions together with OS4 and Debian Linux:
http://revanchellc.com/cgi-bin/mivavm?Merchant2/merchant.mvc+Screen…
> is it supposed to be a stand alone platform on PPC ?
Yes, it is. But there are also AmigaOS4 versions for classic Amiga systems. These versions will become available later, when the final is completed:
Video of AmigaOS4-beta running classic Amiga 1200 with Blizzard PPC accelerator card with the CPU clocked at 166 Mhz, 128 MB RAM and BlizzardVision (Permedia 2) graphics card.
http://movies.intuitionbase.com/OS4_BPPC.avi
or
http://movies.intuitionbase.com/OS4_BPPC.mpg
Running on AmigaOne spec hardware AmigaOS4 is of course a lot faster, some months old demonstration videos:
Booting:
http://webring.amigaworld.net/funcomp/os4betaboot.mpg
MooVId movie player and native graphics drivers:
http://uniweb.free.fr/os4/moovidamp.avi
http://uniweb.free.fr/os4/os4morequal.avi
Please note that some software demonstrated was/is still running under an interpreted 68k CPU emulator. PPC native versions will be *a lot* faster.
@ mini-me
> here is a simple matter-of-fact kind of thing: Be had
> support
Even during Be Inc’s hights there was more software being developed for the classic AmigaOS platform than for BeOS. (Commercial & PD)
> they had an office application
Papyrus Office is currently under development for classic 68k AmigaOS and a PPC native version is already available for MorphOS.
http://www.titan-computer.com/ami/papyrus/e_index.html
http://www.rom-logicware.com/e_start.htm
> they had game developers making stuff for them
Hyperion Entertainment has commercial Amiga game licenses for: Heretic2, Gorky17, Quake 2, Shogo, FreeSpace and *lots* of other games.
The AmigaOS4 version of Freespace is already available. A 3D hardware accelerated version (using Warp3D) was recently demonstrated at a Turkish AmigaOS4 demonstration event:
http://www.amiga.gen.tr/toplanti/
Lots of free AmigaOS4 native games can be downloaded for the OS4 Depot:
http://os4depot.net/
@ ærlige per
Definitely not. Progress on OS4 is also good for MOS, since a higher common user basis will lead to more applications (may it be directly or by OS4 emulation). Most developers do not care too much about the MorphOS/AOS4 rivality and develop for both.
Also just a side note: MorphOS is *not* dead, there were drawbacks but development is still going on and it is still shipped with every Pegoasos sold.
“new AmigaOS4 supported PPC hardware for classic Amiga 1200 computers has recently been announced.”
Apparently these boards will be able to work in “standalone” allso. It seems like they are able to connect to the classic Amiga only to gain extra compatabillety with the things that needs the custom chipsets. Wich would mean (I’m guessing) that old games and similar that some people would like to run, would no longer be needed to run under E-UAE (an emulator).
@ EZ
The original announcement does not say this. But additional information should follow in the new year.
—
ACK Software Controls, Inc. is pleased to announce two new products for the Amiga 1200. The first product is a Freescale 8245 based CPU card clocked at 400 MHz.
http://amigaworld.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1961&start=6…
Its nice to see this OS progressing. The community behind it has always seemed enthusiastic. However while I never quite understood the AOS/MorphOS animosity going on. I always did find it funny that the PegasOS website advertised running Mac OSX against its EULA on their machines as a “feature”.
> Its nice to see this OS progressing.
Some people said it wouldn’t happen.
> The community behind it has always seemed enthusiastic.
These same people who said it wouldn’t happen are also reason for being enthusiastic, but not only.
> However while I never quite understood the AOS/MorphOS animosity going on.
That’s over now. MorphOS is abandonned and PegasOS is going the Linux route. For the Amigans AmigaOS 4 and AmigaOne is the only route (and it always was).
> I always did find it funny that the PegasOS website advertised running Mac OSX against its EULA on their machines as a “feature”.
They also had paid Google advert some years ago for people searching for Amiga hardware to return PegasOS as result, probably they wanted identity. Now their identity is just another Linux box. I wish them all the best.
P.S. Please don’t enter the PegasOS into the discussion, it’s unrelated and offtopic.
> That’s over now. MorphOS is abandonned and PegasOS is going
> the Linux route. For the Amigans AmigaOS 4 and AmigaOne is
> the only route (and it always was).
I dare to say I’m an Amigan. Yet I have a Pegasos (actually, two) with MorphOS. And I don’t regret it. I’ve seen AmigaOS4 the last time two weeks ago, it was the latest beta (with some kind of Warp3D and the 68k JIT emulator – both not yet included in this update, so I’m quite up to date), and I still found my old MOS 1.4 better – that’s MHO, of course. Moreover, at the same venue, I had the chance to see some newer components of MorphOS, too, that were frankly very nice – and as I touched them it was quite clear to me that MorphOS IS NOT abandoned. In fact, we just got two updates: a new shell (MUICON: http://dreamolers.meanmachine.ch/muicon/index.php ), and the new multimedia subsystem ( http://teleinfo.pb.bialystok.pl/mosmedia/ ). Those are parts of the OS (they have to be installed in mossys: infact) released in the last 3 days by the authors. They were intended to be part of a major release, which is sadly late (for variuos reasons we know), but work has not stopped by most part of the development team.
> P.S. Please don’t enter the PegasOS into the discussion,
> it’s unrelated and offtopic.
I agree. Even better, please don’t spread false informations about an unrelated and offtopic product, or I’ll feel the need to correct them.
Kind regards,
Andrea
> That’s over now. MorphOS is abandonned and PegasOS is going
> the Linux route. For the Amigans AmigaOS 4 and AmigaOne is
> the only route (and it always was).
Maybe, but one of the strenghts the Amiga had in its days was OS eficiency. No other OS offered at that time the multitasking ability and small footprint of that OS. And if they can bring it up to date with preemptive multitasking, virtual memory, true color desktop look, and keep a relative small footprint compared to the other OS on the market, will be a good choice for many embeeded devices.
Windows XP – try to run it on less that 400MHz, 256MB Ram. (I forget its 1GB disk space)
MacOS X – very good since it wasn’t based on the crappy, boring, incompetent, pseudo multitasking Mac Classic OS. But it takes a lot of RAM and CPU cycles for those animations.
Linux – Also excellent, but X use a lot of memory. Takes so much that there are currently new X replacements underway. Also its flexibility (freedom as they said) ends with a lot of disk space on different libraries (gtk1, gtk2, qt, etc, etc, etc)
So an OS that can fit on a 16-32MB space, provide preemptive multitasking, sounds good to me.
well, if I read that AmigaOS 4 is an efficiant and small OS, well, yeah, nice. But the prices for processors and storage (RAM + Disc) are cheap.
when processor cycles are so much used for animations, how much of them are taken to wait for an user actions ?
So, who cares how long a fast box wait for the users as the box will serve the action as fast as possible ?
Well, how ever, take a look at
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=802
thats the price tag to beat if Apple comes with a headless consumer mac with a 1.25 GHz G4.
OK, we don’t know if Apple realy is going to release a Box like that.
But if, well, thats a PPC with OSX and be shure, Linux will run on it too. it will bomb the prices down for Mai (Eyetech, AmigaX) and Genesi/bPlan (Pegasos).
When it comes true, that’s definitly the price to realize.
Hopefully for Mai (AmigaX, Eyetech) and Genesi/bPlan apple won’t do that.
But there is a strong demand for an headless eMac and a great Chance to attract new users (iPod Switchers) for Apple.
I Think, AmigaOS and MorphOS should run on Apple boxes too, not only and not mainly, but too.
Well, there was a lot of Hot-Air about a Trojan-Horse of MorphOS for the Mac, well, nothing in there, Hot-Air.
And btw, if Apple comes out with that box, why to use the Freescale distributed Open Workstation (pegasos) if the Headless eMac is aible to do the same much cheaper ?
Cheers Frank
“OK, we don’t know if Apple realy is going to release a Box like that.”
Here’s hoping! Personally, I find Apple to be the company that stands for the good’ol Amiga spirit the most (Heresy I hear some of you say).
“When it comes true, that’s definitly the price to realize.”
Including Swedish taxes I’d be easily willing to give 5000SEK/~ $750 for such a box. In Sweden you have to shell out roughly 6000SEK/~$900 for a Pegasos with a 1GHz G4. And that’s just the mainboard, CPU, and MorphOS (the latter being hardly comparable to MacOS X)! For about 7000SEK/~$1050 you get a AmigaONE Mini-ITX mainboard with a 800MHz G3, 256MB onboard RAM, an onboard GPU (ATI Radeon 7000 with 32MB RAM), and a pre-release version of AmigaOS 4.0 (again, hardly comparable to MacOS X).
Even when comparing with an eMac, there’s little question where you get the most and fastest hardware for the least amount money. It all boils down to your choise of software, or more specifically, OS, and in that department Apple offers a complete solution (AmigaOS isn’t finished yet, MorphOS hasn’t even got a TCP/IP stack of its own AFAIK).
Personally, I’d love to see a low-cost alternative, say 3-4000SEK/~$450-600 to run AmigaOS 4.0 if and when it’s completed. It sure wouldn’t have to have more than say 256MB of RAM, a ~500MHz CPU and a no-thrills GPU.
“And btw, if Apple comes out with that box, why to use the Freescale distributed Open Workstation (pegasos) if the Headless eMac is aible to do the same much cheaper ?”
Some would argue that the Pegasos is more open spec-wise even if the OpenBSD project would hardly agree on that. Maybe bPlan/Genesi/Bill buck & Co. has come around since that incident although I wouldn’t hold my breath. Your mileage may vary.