What is MorphOS - a brief introduction for users familiar with C= Amiga

[TheGoose]

Since I discovered there are still ppl who don't know what MorphOS actually is, I wrote a brieft introduction (it's just a 5 minute read) for those already familiar with Amiga to get a first idea about it. Some screen shots provide additional information.
Find it here: http://via.i-networx.de/wim.htm

Thanks, that helps. Better info than on the official site.

[fishy_fiz]

Is the 3rd party tool for screen dragging Dragon, or something else ?
I hope something else, as Dragon is little more than a novelty. Screen resets to top of the screen when you let it go, screens cease to updatewhile being moved, cant be let sit partway down and so on. I've seen a few people mention screen dragging via a 3rd party program in regards to MOS and if it is indeed Dragon then its kinda misleading to say its available, even with a 3rd party program. Not really important, but something Ive always wondered about nonetheless. Also, bare in mind that anything relying on custom chipset wont work on MOS so a lot of old software still requires UAE (only mentioned as it sounds like some people expect most of thier old favorites to work seemlessly).

[BooBoo1200]

Ive seen you make comments like that before, and while I can partially understand where youre coming from, try using amiga os with an rtg system sometime and you'll suddenly see MOS looks a heck of a lot more like amiga os than it does Mac OSX. Amiga OS is potentially soooo much prettier than AGA allows. Having said this though, MOS does look nicer than AmigaOS.

OS4+Aros look Amiga, nothing to do with RTG, this doesnt.

Dont get me wrong I have no objections to MorhOS and wish them all the best and think theyve done a good job but as far as cosmetics it doesnt look like Amiga more like Mac.

[fishy_fiz]

I'd have to disagree there. MUI, Intuition, Gadtools, etc. (apis) go a long way to shaping the look of an OS more than skins, icons and so on.

[Matt_H]

OS4+Aros look Amiga, nothing to do with RTG, this doesnt.

Dont get me wrong I have no objections to MorhOS and wish them all the best and think theyve done a good job but as far as cosmetics it doesnt look like Amiga more like Mac.

Try the AmigaOS3.x skin

[Tempest]

OS4+Aros look Amiga, nothing to do with RTG, this doesnt.

Dont get me wrong I have no objections to MorhOS and wish them all the best and think theyve done a good job but as far as cosmetics it doesnt look like Amiga more like Mac.

IMHO just a silly and weak argument, the default look of MorphOS can be changed, there are enough themes.

Take a look at my old MorphOS 1.x screenshots: http://home.xmsnet.nl/toto/MorphOS/. Doesn't look like MacOS to me.

[pVC]

OS4+Aros look Amiga, nothing to do with RTG, this doesnt.

Dont get me wrong I have no objections to MorhOS and wish them all the best and think theyve done a good job but as far as cosmetics it doesnt look like Amiga more like Mac.

Isn't it pretty shallow to judge by cosmetics?-)

Cosmetics can be changed and many users prefer to use more minimalistic style than the default theme.

And somehow I have the feeling that most of the Mac comments come just because of the one single tool only, system preferences in panel view. It can be changed to traditional MUI list view too and then it's nothing but Amiga.

[BooBoo1200]

I tried to spell it out clearly that MorphOS just doesnt look like Amiga and that I had no problem with MorphOS I dont know how I could make it any clearer?

This is only one point of view I realy have no intrest in going further...................

[Khephren]

Isn't it pretty shallow to judge by cosmetics?-)

Cosmetics can be changed and many users prefer to use more minimalistic style than the default theme..

Your right, of course. But many people go by initial visuals.

That's why people bought XP over 2000, it had the new 'fisher price' UI
And why people think Windows7 is not Vista with a couple of new GUI functions and some bug fixes

[Digiman]

IMHO just a silly and weak argument, the default look of MorphOS can be changed, there are enough themes.

Take a look at my old MorphOS 1.x screenshots: http://home.xmsnet.nl/toto/MorphOS/. Doesn't look like MacOS to me.

Looks like Mac and Vista had sex.... :roflmao:

Can I make it look like KS/WB 1.3? If I can then I might try it.

[zylesea]

Looks like Mac and Vista had sex.... :roflmao:

Can I make it look like KS/WB 1.3? If I can then I might try it.

Yes you can. While I don't have a link at hand, there is a 1.3 skin somewhere ravialbale. It can really look as you want, it is full skinable.

[amigadave]

@runequester,

I was able to find a dual 1.25GHz G4 PowerMac w/2gb RAM & Radeon 9000Pro video card & SuperDrive for less than $35 and a 1.25GHz eMac for just the shipping charges.

Prices of all PPC Macs are falling fast, like every week the prices are cheaper, so if you have any patience (which all Amiga users should have from experience), you can find a good price on a used PPC Mac to run MorphOS2.x.  Many people have found them for free as they were being thrown out by friends, or at the places they work.

For Amiga users that are not sure they will like MorphOS2.x, I suggest that they find a G4 Mac that a friend has, or one they can get for free and install MorphOS2.7 on it (also free to try with 30 minute time limit) and try it out for 30 minutes at a time to see if they like what they see.  Also, ask questions and for help from experienced MorphOS2.x users while they are trying it out, so they get an accurate idea of what it is capable of.

[Cammy]

It looks like some people only used Amigas because they liked the ugly look of the default Workbench.

You all know the reason Workbench looked so plain to begin with was to inspire you to create something more visually appealing with it yourself? It's a blank canvas for the creative mind. It has always been more configurable than other systems, especially MUI which lets you determine the frame, fill, font, background textures/gradients and pixel distances for every single component of the GUI on a per-program or global basis. You can make one program look like Workbench 1.3 and another look like Windows Vista, it's all up to you, and it always has been with Amiga OS and MUI.

If you're not interested in operating systems at all, and consider a computer nothing more than a tool to get work done then you probably won't get anything out of MorphOS that you can't do on a generic PC. But if you're an Amiga enthusiast you owe it to yourself to give it a go and see how good an Amiga OS can be.

Now to explain a little about the configurability of MorphOS, I have taken a few screenshots showing different MUI settings. I didn't change the window frames, but those can be changed as well of course.

The screenshot I showed earlier was how I prefer to have it look, I configured it that way myself. This is the default MorphOS look:

http://i54.tinypic.com/2h50581.png

This is one of the default themes to choose from, for those nostalgic for the past:

http://i54.tinypic.com/200wyea.png

And here it is the way I have configured it to look for myself:

http://i52.tinypic.com/2m85o1x.png

By the way, changing the look of MUI in MorphOS happens in real time. All the programs you are configuring will change their look as you adjust it without having to Test it out first, you can see how it looks as you fine-tune it to your tastes.

[Leifern]

This was really informative. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I've stayed away from MorphOS, but perhaps I'll get one of those MacMINIS and give it a try.

[Tempest]

Looks like Mac and Vista had sex.... :roflmao:

Can I make it look like KS/WB 1.3? If I can then I might try it.

Actually there's a Workbench 1.x skin, like zylesea said. Have a look here http://www.pegasosforum.de/dload.php?action=file&file_id=288.

Hope you have fun trying MorphOS ;-)

[lsmart]

The MorphOS look that you see most often is much like Linux in the late 90s or what Windows tried to copy with XP. But it doesn´t stop at the color of the titlebars being in bad taste and icons being autoarranged to weird grids.

The original Amiga OS had to concentrate on the essentials. There was much thought going into details. Icons looked the way they looked, because one found that the image

a) represented the idea best
b) was visible an clear on every monitor by people with moderate eyesight

Todays criteria seem to be: its coooler! It´s mooore!

And the old Workbench had some pretty cool bells and whistles: Many people for example forgot that it was normal to select more than one menu item in one swoop. AmigaOS still does that and if you know the trick it can become more useful than Apples "Expose" or "Spaces".

MUI has a lot of eyecandy and unfortunately is helping you to create interfaces with more buttons than your user really wants. If you really think about how the software is used you will find that less is almost always more.

So I don´t agree with people who are calling the old Workbench-look crappy. AROS in fact does a good job in maintaining the clean lines of the former design.