Would you purchase AmigaOS if it supported ARM or x86?

[Methuselas]

[youtube]FTjmtPvBsbw[/youtube]

[agami]

Hell yeah!!
Those are what I call supportable initiatives. It wouldn't be cheap and it wouldn't happen quickly, but it should be something that is pursued.

This is coming from someone who is the kind of geek that gets off on microprocessor architecture. I love the Power ISA, and I'm a big fan of SPARC and MIPS. But just because I have a soft spot for these things does not mean that the right choice for a viable computing platform is one of these esoteric CPUs. If intel x86 isn't your "cup of tea" then you have ARM; Those are the only choices.

I also get really nerdy about Operating System Architectures. I'm a big fan of BeOS and QNX, but I would still like to see AmigaOS play a more significant role in today's computing market.

[Rob]

It would have to be x86 for me.  I don't understand all the fuss about ARM.  If you going to change architecture at this point you might as well go for the most powerful.   x86 boards also tend to PCI and PCIe slots, it's better to be able to re-use as much driver code as possible for video, audio and network.

[Pat the Cat]

Am I missing something? There's a killer app only available on AmigaOS that you can't get with a free operating system?

WHY would anybody pay for AmigaDOS as opposed to installing Linux for free? That is the question. Get the answer right, and you might just sell AmigaOS to new users.

3D printing is moving to 32 bit processors. AmigaOS is still (largely) a 32 bit operating system. This does make sense, at least to investigate.

[whabang]

YAM is my killer app. I do most of the rest over SSH anyway.

[kolla]

YAM is my killer app. I do most of the rest over SSH anyway.

So what ssh client are you using?

[JimmiG]

Am I missing something? There's a killer app only available on AmigaOS that you can't get with a free operating system?

WHY would anybody pay for AmigaDOS as opposed to installing Linux for free? That is the question. Get the answer right, and you might just sell AmigaOS to new users.

3D printing is moving to 32 bit processors. AmigaOS is still (largely) a 32 bit operating system. This does make sense, at least to investigate.

Well, it's a lot easier to convince people to pay for just an OS that they can run on their existing machine, rather than convincing them to buy a $2,000 computer so they can run said OS.
I think if the OS cost <$100, many would try it out of sheer curiosity.

I really see no reason to stick with PPC for AmigaOS. X86 (and ARM) won. I think any mid-range X86 CPU and above could emulate PPC at acceptable speed. Apple did it on Core 2 CPUs back in 2006. It wouldn't have to emulate an entire system (like UAE), just translate the CPU instructions.

[Romanujan]

It would have to be x86 for me.  I don't understand all the fuss about ARM.  If you going to change architecture at this point you might as well go for the most powerful.

With AmigaOS API, if you change the architecture from M68k (big endian) to PPC (also big endian), you can provide a CPU emulator to run system-friendly legacy applications - just like AmigaOS4 or MorphOS did.

If you change the architecture to x86 (little endian), you can't - you can only emulate the whole legacy machine (UAE), like AROS does.

The OS for ARM CPU can be either big or little edian, depending on the compiler toolchain; CPU supports both endianness. This is what makes ARM particularly interesting.

[Pat the Cat]

Well, it's a lot easier to convince people to pay for just an OS that they can run on their existing machine, rather than convincing them to buy a $2,000 computer so they can run said OS.
I think if the OS cost <$100, many would try it out of sheer curiosity..

I guess you're right, up to a point. If there are Amiga apps that they just can't get to look at any other way, that might persuade people to have a try.

There is a certain novelty way involved. I just wonder how many people have $100 spare to satisfy their curiosity. Some people will, no denying that... and it's not like they couldn't have Linux as well. Or any other OS.

[nicholas]

With AmigaOS API, if you change the architecture from M68k (big endian) to PPC (also big endian), you can provide a CPU emulator to run system-friendly legacy applications - just like AmigaOS4 or MorphOS did.

If you change the architecture to x86 (little endian), you can't - you can only emulate the whole legacy machine (UAE), like AROS does.

The OS for ARM CPU can be either big or little edian, depending on the compiler toolchain; CPU supports both endianness. This is what makes ARM particularly interesting.

Or they can do it like Amithlon did it.

[guest11527]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you would be willing to purchase AmigaOS if it was available on ARM, x86, or both?

Hard to say. It would definitely lower my barrier to potentially look into this, but frankly, it is a bit too late for this anyhow. Back then, i.e. when the migration from 68K to another hardware was ongoing, it might have been a slim chance to attempt this, but nowadays... I don't know.

My personal motivation for playing with the Os is really as a retro platform, and not as a serious competitor to an up-to-date system.

[Louis Dias]

I'd like to get AROS and/or Amiga OS on my Rasberry Pi 3b and Wii U.  I've hacked my Wii U (following FlimFlam's guide) and can run any software on it.  Can even make it boot directly into an alternate OS...

Supporting fixed hardware like a Pi or Wii U means driver porting can be fine tuned!  I hate running AROS on my PC because of driver issues.

[dovegrace]

I'd probably buy a copy for both or either, but in my case, being stuck in the past, it would largely be a curiosity or something to play with (much like OS/2 and Solaris).

[EugeneNine]

I voted ARM myself.  There just aren't enough/any apps right now that I need to put AROS/Amiga on a x86 system, I'll need linux for apache, owncloud, mplabx, libreoffice, viking, etc

The Pi's and other ARM's, while they can run Linux they are not the speediest in the world, so why not make Amiga a lightweight OS for a lightweight board, there could be a market there.

[SamuraiCrow]

68080 all the way.  Whether it be FPGA or ASIC, I am fed up with the other ones.

[Romanujan]

Or they can do it like Amithlon did it.

Which is basically a stripped-down Linux running a stripped-down UAE...