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Author Topic: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?  (Read 18219 times)

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Offline amigakiddTopic starter

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Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« on: April 23, 2008, 05:13:34 PM »
I briefly had an Amiga 500 back in 2002, bought it from a guy who owned Amigas and Pegasos machines, it just stopped working. At the time, I actually and physically laid my hands on A500, but turned out to be a giant paperweight. I was so interested in this hobby that I had to figure out how should I attain an Amiga. Eventually, I forgot about the Amiga, until years later (2008), my interests were rekindled.

Now, I'm running WinUAE. Of course trying out AmiSYS, Amikit, ClassicWB, and AROS distro. It came to me that the current state of the Amiga Community is dependent on emulation, or at least to a certain extent. Yes, many of you still have your hardware, but the newbies like myself are just experiencing the Amiga though UAE or alternatives.
Emulation surpasses the inaccessability to Amiga hardware, there is a limited supply out there. You cannot find a good A500 factory sealed in a box.

The question is: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing? Does it have that original Amiga soul comparable to its hardware counterparts? or is it just a bland Windows executable or binary file that tricks you to thinking that you really have an Amiga?

Is Amiga Emulation really modern Amiga Computing since there is no new hardware out from A-inc?

Can you integrate Amiga Emulation into the enterprise? Let's say a type shop who prefers Amiga's to Macs?

Give me your thoughts.
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Offline Heinz

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2008, 05:22:22 PM »
I that people have very different opinions about emulation.
I think Emulation is good for testing applications as developing on real amigas is just painful and slow.
But real and fast Hardware would be better, because emulation always rely on other Operating Systems.

Ah and by the way... AROS is not depending on Emulation. You can just burn it on a CD and boot your PC with it.
 

Offline amiga_3k

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2008, 05:44:57 PM »
My opinion is that experiences differ. I was pretty amazed by the likes of Amikit on my Pentium 4 PC (2.4 GHz). That is until I felt in a really retro mode (the wife was at work, kids in their beds) and thouhgt it was a good idea to run OctaMED soundstudio to make some noise. I did that on lots of occasions when still running an A500, later the A3000, A2000 and A4000 and I had loads of fun doing so. But on Amikit it didn't come near to the real fun. It seemed like ages between hitting a key and actually hear the sound!

Naturally I blamed Amikit and did a minimal UAE install, only to find out that it didn't really matter. It turns out that emulation is good and acceptable if you're running programs in RTG mode (where the graphics are taken care of by the video-chips) and playing audio directly via the soundcard (over AHI). If your application depends on Amiga Audio and Amiga Video than UAE just doesn't any right to the Amiga. You'd be far better of using a true Amiga.

Which reminds me... has anyone ever done a real-life (i.e. gaming) comparisson between the Minimig and A500?
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Offline amigakiddTopic starter

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2008, 05:49:02 PM »
I was tempted to start building my own Minimig out of Radioshack electronic parts. But it wasn't for faint of heart. I do want a Minimig and build a case for it.
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Offline Phantom

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2008, 05:49:08 PM »
What is better than the real thing? Nothing. So THE REAL THING.

I never liked emulations though.
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Offline Varthall

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #5 on: April 23, 2008, 07:07:53 PM »
For 68k Amigas it might be true, not for PPC ones though since no emulator for such machines exists.

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Offline persia

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #6 on: April 23, 2008, 07:28:56 PM »
Absolutely yes, who needs old hardware?  Emulation is fast, simple and doesn't take more space on your desk and you can have as many Amigas as your memory allows!



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Offline klx300r

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #7 on: April 23, 2008, 08:22:19 PM »
When I am using my A1200 or 128 or 64 it takes me back to a great time in my life...I love the look and feel of them to go along with my memories when I have some spare time to enjoy them :-D
emulation is just that..it 'tries' to copy the REAL thing :lol:

..why is that many of us retro dudes have dust covers over our Miggys but our Macs or PeeCees are left to fend for themsleves ;-)
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Offline tokyoracer

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #8 on: April 23, 2008, 08:32:10 PM »
In my opinion, no.
 

Offline Fester

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #9 on: April 23, 2008, 08:50:46 PM »
I'm counting on emulation to be good enough for my needs because I no longer wish to maintain aging Amiga hardware.

I'm very impressed with winUAE and I feel confident this will be enough for my Amiga dabbling.
 

Offline Damion

Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #10 on: April 23, 2008, 09:05:53 PM »
Quote

I'm very impressed with winUAE and I feel confident this will be enough for my Amiga dabbling.


I thought the same thing several years ago (sold most of my hardware), and several years after that I began buying classic gear again.

Personally, I enjoy both... I love WinUAE, it's fantastic and works well for most things, much better than real hardware in many ways. Unlike some, I don't have problems with "jerky" scrolling or poor audio, it simply works great for me.

However, tinkering with the classics can also be a blast. Nothing like popping a good OCS demo into the A2K and relaxing with a beer. :-) Actually, now that I'm *finally* getting some good display solutions for the old gear, it's becoming far more enjoyable to use. (I'm just loving the A2K + CV scandoubler + Trinitron combination, the picture is simply the finest I've seen on classic HW by far... and as soon as Jens' new unit comes out, I will be set!)

 
 

Offline Roj

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #11 on: April 23, 2008, 09:09:12 PM »
ARexx scripts would often break under emulation when I tried it a year or so ago. When that situation is resolved, I'd say emulation is superior, but there's something intangible about running real Amiga hardware. That's something emulation will never be able to replace.

My opinion would probably be different if it weren't for my CSPPC. When that goes I'll probably lose my interest in using my Amiga unless newer mass-market hardware shows up. Let me know when I can start holding my breath. ;-)
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Offline redrumloa

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #12 on: April 23, 2008, 09:16:38 PM »
Quote
The question is: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?


Yes.

Quote
Does it have that original Amiga soul comparable to its hardware counterparts?


No, but it doesn't fail like ancient Amiga hardware has a tendency to do.

Quote
Is Amiga Emulation really modern Amiga Computing since there is no new hardware out from A-inc?


But of course.

Quote
Can you integrate Amiga Emulation into the enterprise? Let's say a type shop who prefers Amiga's to Macs?


No, very few people remember the Amiga.

Don't get me wrong, I love Amiga classic hardware. however if you are looking for a modern Amiga experience nothing comes close to WinUAE on modern PC hardware in speed or compatibility.
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Offline AmigaHope

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #13 on: April 23, 2008, 10:45:37 PM »
It depends.

Compared to a stock A500, emulation is going to run rings around it.

...but then that's like asking if Windows is better on real hardware or emulation if you're comparing it to a 386SX. =)

The other issue with emulation is that you lose the cool exact-sync display. I still struggle trying to get emulators to work properly in this respect. It emulates things faster than the fastest 060, but it still can't manage the display to an exact 50hz with perfect smooth scrolling and no tearing? =/

I'm beginning to think that emulators need to have their own video card drivers. =P


And so far nothing emulates my A4k/604e233
 

Offline Nostalgiac

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Re: Is Amiga Emulation better than the real thing?
« Reply #14 on: April 23, 2008, 10:46:49 PM »
call me sick/stupid.... but there is the 'strokeability' about  an original :) in my case the heavy weight A2000... the real "iron" :-) no emulator can beat that  :-D

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