A-EON Technology secures graphic card support for AmigaOS 4

[spirantho]

Love 'em or hate 'em, MOS guys got it right going after the extremely cheap and extremely available PPC Mac hardware.  I only wish OS4 would go that way too - a lot more people would get a chance to use a real fun little OS at a reasonable price.

Actually, I think they both got it right.

I'd hate to be limited to Macs to run my NG AmigaOS, and Hyperion's decision not to use Macs (which would obliterate the hardware NG scene) means I can do that. MOS team's decision to use Macs means we get the best of both worlds.

I like to use new hardware built for the purpose, and I'm willing to pay for that - AOS gives me that opportunity. Other people don't care about the hardware and just want something to run their NG OS - MOS gives them that opportunity.

Hyperion and MOS have given us choice, and that can't be a bad thing. What is a bad thing is when one side start telling the other side what they should be doing, when it's an entirely subjective argument.

[Kesa]

Here watch Bear eat a grub...

[youtube]Uj9CysSSsps[/youtube]

Now please stop going off topic! Sheessh...

[jj]

Absolutely zero sense in MOS supporting any of the proprietary OS4 PPC hardware. There's just not enough of it around to warrant it, and they would be wasting their resources.
 
Love 'em or hate 'em, MOS guys got it right going after the extremely cheap and extremely available PPC Mac hardware. I only wish OS4 would go that way too - a lot more people would get a chance to use a real fun little OS at a reasonable price.

OS4 wont go the same way because its always tied to some uber expensive hardware,  Hyperion/Ainc/whoever always want to maximise how much money then can fleece from the brand monkeys

[gertsy]

ohh.. Wow.  Did you see that?  He ate a grub..... How's he go'nna boot his Linux now?

BTW: Embedding disabled by request go to youtube to watch....

PS: If you want drivers for a machine that is not supported by GFX Card manufacturers you have to pay for them, surely.  or get someone to write them for free. Eg; Linux.

[dammy]

Mine too, just because X1000 is more expandable. 10 USB 2.0, much more expandable board once PCI slots get empty ...

Is USB 2.0 now fully working in OS4?

InI know this will be flamming to MOS users, but InI also congrat them on first laptop and new OS version with hope to have it for X1000.

All PPC Macs are cheap but all but G5 are outdated to X1000.

Based on what?

[OlafS3]

@gertsy

I think you miss the point here... it is not about getting sth. for free you have not paid for, it is about customers of expensive OS4 hardware had wrong expectations regarding later support (new drivers, full support of the hardware...)

[dammy]

Piru that's shallow even for you. This thread is about delivering news about new drivers for AOS4.x so what gives you the right to say something so horrible in a thread that isn't even relevant to MOS :sealed:

About the same right for you and others to slam C=USA in the same fashion.  

Back on topic, why isn't Hyperion doing this?  Isn't it their responsibility to provide driver support for all supported systems since they are the OS partner that making money on OS4 sales?

[jorkany]

@lurch

The driver development took many hundreds of man hours.  Programmers need to be paid and the cost needs to be accounted for.

So what is Hyperion doing?


@Dammy,

Isn't it their responsibility to provide driver support for all supported systems since they are the OS partner that making money on OS4 sales?

Exactly. Hyperion has told OS4 users for years that the reason OS4 can only be allowed to run on proprietary PPC hardware is because buyers have too much freedom in the x86 market - Hyperion cannot afford to support every configuration out there like Windows, OS X, and Linux do because they are too small. So they have to concentrate only a very limited set of known hardware. If this is true then why isn't Hyperion releasing these drivers?

Sounds like OS4 development has stalled. Developers are apparently not willing to spend years of their lives working for free on an OS with no clear direction with a shrinking fanbase. I believe I read elsewhere that A-EON wanted these drivers because the availability of the already antiquated and out of production Radeon cards could no longer be guaranteed, so rather than wait around for support in OS4.2 (which may or may not ever be released) they took matters into their own hands and here is a driver for newer and more available Radeon cards.

Personally, I think A-EON made the right move and it sounds like Hans has been paid for his effort and is happy, so good on them. Non-X1000 owners can either pay for the A-EON drivers, or continue waiting for Hyperion just like they have for years for fully functional USB2, SMP, and 3D drivers.

As a whole though, the situation demands golfclap.

[number6]

His request to take the discussion to PM instead, was in order to keep this thread on topic, which you obviously refused. OK, have it your way...

If he was hoping to have a serious discussion through PM, then his comment comparing them to Amiga Inc. somewhat defeated that notion:

Also, does one get a coupon and a t-shirt?

@Dammy

Back on topic, why isn't Hyperion doing this?

and Itix's comments

You seem to be hung up on the "title" the person carries?
A contractor submitting work back to Hyperion for testing somehow has absolutely nothing to do with Hyperion "doing this"?

#6

[spirantho]

Working on the OS. In the same way as MS writes an OS, not drivers. And Apple the same. And pretty much every other OS in history...

It's not the OS writer's responsibility to write drivers, it's the OS writer's responsibility to write an API.

[jorkany]

@gertsy

I think you miss the point here... it is not about getting sth. for free you have not paid for, it is about customers of expensive OS4 hardware had wrong expectations regarding later support (new drivers, full support of the hardware...)

OS4 users are used to goal post moving by now.

[Digiman]

Purchase driver updates, you've got to be kidding me. One shouldn't have to pay for drivers.

Insanity, of course there will be people doing it.

I'll be giving Amiga NG a wide berth.

Except that the owners of the x1000 had to pay for them to be produced and not Hyperion so they are within their rights to charge competitor's computer owners for their paid for development work over and above Hyperion's collection of software and drivers included in the OS4 purchase.

But yes this fractured situation is off putting, even before you include ugly old PCs being used for AROS and smelly yellowed overpriced Macs being used for MOS too under the umbrella of Amiga 'Next Gen'

[Digiman]

Working on the OS. In the same way as MS writes an OS, not drivers. And Apple the same. And pretty much every other OS in history...

It's not the OS writer's responsibility to write drivers, it's the OS writer's responsibility to write an API.

Microsoft do sometimes write driver updates though for things like a new OS release to try and con people into *upgrading* from XP but yes generally the actual drivers are written by the company in question or die hard fanatics of unsupported OS.

[OlafS3]

Sorry I do not believe that. People bought expensive OS4 hardware in the believing that they will get full hardware support (at least after some time). So it would be the duty of Acube and Hyperion to clarify the situation and what support customers will have. When Trevor pays for the development it is perfectly clear that he wants money for it. The situation at Aros (opensource) and MorphOS (mostly updates free pf charge) is different to AOS with its expensive hardware bundles. If you pay premium prices you expect premium services (and in this case it means at least full hardware support by the drivers and of course no extra fees).

[OlafS3]

But Windows is not bundled/connected with only one or two hardware companies offering highprice computers

[spirantho]

But Windows is not bundled/connected with only one or two hardware companies offering highprice computers

I'm not sure I see the relevance. OK, so Windows has 1000s of companies, and AmigaOS has two, that doesn't shift responsibility. Hyperion are still a very small company who are busily working on the core OS. They don't have the time to do drivers as well, so someone else has to do it - and that someone is Trevor.

It is not Hyperion's responsibility to write drivers, only the API.

And incidentally, many Windows machines are a lot  more expensive than the X1000. The X1000 is cheap compared to a lot of systems.