Whatever Happened To The Real Amiga Community.

[Iggy]

I too come from outside the Amiga community. When Amigas were still on the market, my company was selling 68K based multi-user systems starting at $999.
Like the Atari user who posted earlier, my main connection is the 68K processor.

My current fascination with the Amiga community stems from the fact that it is the only M68K based system that is not only not dead, but is alive and continuing to see new developments in hardware and software.

I think its very cool that I can run unmodified 68K code under MorphOS on my Powermac PPC based system. Amiga related OS' are compact, efficient, and have very quick booting times. With NG OS' we have software that makes our systems practical substitutes for common PCs.

How many other retro systems can claim this? None that I know of. We may sound like fanatics, but personally I think it's just pride in the resilience and vitality of our market.

[Karlos]

Well, if some bugger I've never met wants to label me a "sad retard" for deriving pleasure from the maintenance and use of old computer hardware, that's his bang. Frankly, why should I care?

[whabang]

I think there is similar conflicts and splits in other retro-communities. Just log on to a car forum and ask for advice on how to renovate an old car and you'll see.

[amigasociety]

I think there is similar conflicts and splits in other retro-communities. Just log on to a car forum and ask for advice on how to renovate an old car and you'll see.

I am into aircooled VWs and yes, the car world is a whole other story.  Lots of crazy bashing there.

Like I said, all forums have them.  To me, at least the ones I visit, the Amiga forums seem to have the most angst out of the all.

tj

[Borut]

I must say im most of a classic and OS4 fanboy, to say so. But I also respect MorphOS. Even AROS isn´t so bad I think. And I am happy for having UAE because when everything fails this will always live on.
I think the community is now for quite a while pretty healthy and active, because we had also times when there was not so much activity. But it is true and sad, that there is also a lot of war - especially on the net - be sure when we met each other IRL there is much more kindeness and respect between all the fractions.
On the other hand its also clear that everyone wants to see his favorite direction to be best, strongest and most prospective - so there is always some pushing of this.

So for me Amiga still isn´t bad and I love it - but nowadays there are differents flavours. I love the classics and for me the system of the future is or should be OS4. I am also curious about MorphOS. Probably there will come once the time when AROS will gain more ground - who knows. So I love all but some a little bit more ;-)

And back to the community - if you need help you will always get it in the Amiga community - still nowadays. A bad thing is to participate in discussions which system is better because ... you know - this could become frustrating but for sure it is boring me more and more.

What makes me really angry it is when companys will come who use the name Amiga for a stock PC with an emulation - sorry but this is in no way an Amiga this stock HW with an emulation. Emulation is not bad to be honest but for me this should not be sold as an Amiga.

Long live the Amiga and his community!

Eh and sorry for my bad english (I also didn´t want to spend too much time to reread my text and correct it)

[slaapliedje]

We're all just waiting for a major plague to hit, so we can have our Zombie Amigas rise up and slay the Windows based crap that is out there!

Really, the Amiga community dwindles, then grows, then dwindles, etc.  I've been a lurker for many years, then finally bought an A4000 and set out to upgrade it to see if it were a viable platform for my job.  

Only really two things that kept me from using it at work.  SSH was/is a pain to get installed and working right (haven't done it yet, but then on the Amiga, I have been easily distracted by playing with other things...) and the noise of the PSU.  Damn, that thing is like sitting next to some of the servers we have.

The thing about the Amiga that has made it one of the 'dead' computers that still has such a (dare I say religious) community around it is because of how amazing and far ahead of everything else it was at the time of release.  I mostly had Atari computers when I was younger, but was always jealous of my friend's Amiga 500 that had Color Icons and an OS that could run more than one program.  

Nowadays I'm simply amazed at what it can do with such little resources.  I mean you can't even install Windows XP on anything less than 128MB of ram, and even if you do put it on that, I pitty you.  It literally took 10 minutes to load up OpenOffice.org under Windows XP with 128mb of ram.  Even Ubuntu at the time took about 3minutes.

Granted I don't know what the equivalent program for the Amiga would be, but I bet it'd run with 2mb chip and 16mb fast ram without any issues.

This is why we are still "sad retards".  Personally I think the people who boast about having 4GB of RAM and 1GB of RAM on EACH of their GPUs, and then have to say that they can ALMOST run Crysis with everything at highest quality are the sad retards.  

The ones that are really sad are the ones who are simply too young to remember games like Lemmings, Cannon Fodder, Dungeon Master, etc.  The ones who think Halo is the best video game ever.

Amigas themselves have some personality.  Most PCs don't.  I think that's one of the main reasons I'm a Linux advocate and Administrator, is because Linux also has a lot of personality.  

Anyhow, just some rants.

[adz]

We're all just waiting for a major plague to hit, so we can have our Zombie Amigas rise up and slay the Windows based crap that is out there!

Not sure if you just being a smarty pants or not, but this is a classic example of why people outside of the community think of us as a bunch of nutjobs. Simply put, the way the rest of the world sees it, Windows has won the home computer war, Mac is making a comback (shudder) but they are still a loooong way off. Now, to put things into perspective, when an Amiga nutjob starts shooting his mouth off about how great the Amiga is and how crap Windows is, common sense kicks in and says; "Hang on, if the Amiga is so great, why did it die off nearly 20 years ago?". Just sayin' is all...

[the_leander]

Some of us lived through well over a decade of false promise, vaporware, company stupidity and out-right lies. As such many wouldn't piss on Amiga.com etc. if it were on fire.

Like wise we have seen others like UAE, Aros, Pagasos, Minimig, and others actually do some incredible stuff. But we don't agree which direction is best (just like the old days with PPC, Alpha, etc.)

Call it jaded. Enthusiasm sometimes comes off as idiotic. New projects are spurned as we don't want to get our hopes up. (natami)

QFMFT

Pretty much sums up my own feelings on the matter in their entirety. I'd write something more personal, unfortunately this thread has come post the first decent pub session I've had in 3 years.

[takemehomegrandma]

I know there's a right old mixture of folks on this sight who claim to be Amigans

I don't think there is a problem with people calling themselves Amigans, rather when others claim you are *not* (and using words like "true" or "real" as an emphasis to this). That's when problems arise. That and the secterism that has been carefully cultivated in some circles. Luckily most of those people hangs out on other forums than this one though.

To most people here it's just a hobby, nothing too serious, and it's still fun.

[Plaz]

It's certainly understandable that someone who went away in 1995 and came back today would find today's amiga boards more of an odd alien ancestor of their old friend.

The Amiga gang is unique in the computer world. We have been perpetually caught between the business states of "dead retro" and "startup business" for about 17 years. For the community that's stayed aboard the for whole weird wandering ride, it's created a bit of a fractured schizophrenic atmosphere.

Amiga never totally died, so can't have a "revival" like other platforms. Neither has it fully "survived" as a viable business, so continuously leaves hopefully customers wanting. It is a unique techie soap opera that presents a different version of interest and entertainment for everyone that chooses to participate.

Sad... yes we tend to be a bit sad about Amiga's fate thus far. Retards... match any experience and IQ here against any of your buddies. I'm placing my bet on the Amigans, twitchy bunch that they are. Destroying from within... not at all. We are just constantly debating how best to reanimate frankenstein, or what parts we should harvest and paste on another living host. That clears that up I hope.

Plaz

[Plaz]

I think there is similar conflicts and splits in other retro-communities. Just log on to a car forum and ask for advice on how to renovate an old car and you'll see.

Oh, yes. I'm doing that too and the threads that get going on those boards/subjects can make flames on Amiga sites look tame.

Plaz

[Cammy]

I've been losing interest in Amiga.org for months. Too many topics that either don't seem to be about Amigas at all, or threads with silly polls seem to get way more attention and replies than any constructive Amiga threads. The reason myself and a lot of other people I talk to in private don't want to post here is because it just seems pointless when our hard work or enthusiasm for new development is met with negativity and ignorance.

I think your brother's friends are right about this forum.

[save2600]

I agree with Cammy. Being mostly into vintage or "legacy" Amiga gear anyway, I'm rather interested in buying, selling, trading and talking about the vintage stuff. This forum used to be great for that - but now it's turned into something much less productive. Too much "U.K" off topic humor and all around silliness for me. A joke or jest here or there - fine. And then there's all these Amiga-like OS's, but nobody really talks about them in a useful, constructive or hands-on manner. Too much mystery and arrogance surround them for those of us that are not software developers.

Oh well. Maybe it's time to hit Amibay up a little harder these days for trading.

[orb85750]

Palestine & Israel -- take a look at the present without any knowledge of the history and what do you conclude?  OK, that analogy is a bit extreme!

It's also fair to say that there are many threads here that are largely positive.  Furthermore, technical help is often just minutes away on this forum, due to the far from "retarded" users here.  There is so much infighting because there are so many strong opinions about the future of Amiga, and the trademark-holders are quite weak.  Most retro has no future, almost by definition.  Amiga is certainly different.  Yes, there are pros and cons.

[redrumloa]

@Franko

Now? This is nothing! Everything is zen now compared to years gone by online. If I had to put a finger on the worst, most ugly year, it would have to be about 2003. That said, probably every year from about ~1998 to ~2007 were pretty ugly. The few really hardcore camp minded folks have migrated off to (insert camp here) minority sites.

Sure nowadays we get some slagging here and there amongst ourselves, but it is nothing you won't find on any other discussion forum on the internet with membership of this size.

[Rob]

I don't think there is a problem with people calling themselves Amigans, rather when others claim you are *not* (and using words like "true" or "real" as an emphasis to this). That's when problems arise. That and the secterism that has been carefully cultivated in some circles. Luckily most of those people hangs out on other forums than this one though.

Your sig.  LOL.