Will there every be another computer like the amiga?

[paolone]

I'm not sure if you actually speak english, or if you're using google translate. At any rate, you don't really understand what other people are saying.

Sorry, mr Wilde.

10.3 runs fine for me. G3/400, 512mb.

It's a pity old G3 iBooks came with 128 megs only. And no, I'm not either look in junkyards for old RAM modules, nor I'll buy them new, since 1) their value is less than their price, 2) I don't need to revamp my old iBook just to run OSX on it, 3) looking what you say and how you say it, "runs fine for me" is something I frankly doubt about. Cheers

[warpdesign]

I think you have to stop living in the eighties and, open your eyes. The Amiga is a piece of hardware and the OS is only lines of (mostly ASM+BCPL if we talk about the original 1.x OS) code.

You had a CPU, several chips specialised in graphics (copper+blitter), a chip doing (great) sound (and some I/O) stuff and a case.
Back then, PC didn't do sound (Mac was doing some audio though), had mostly text-modes or low-color/low-resolution graphics and of course not any kind of hardware acceleration.

Now, if we get back to today, what do you have in a PC ?

 - a CPU (powerful, dual-core, 64bit, capable of doing SIMD, and many more)
 - a (powerful) graphics chip doing many many more than any Amiga has ever done
 - an audio chip (doing perfect audio stuff, even more than your ears can detect with 24bit audio,...)
 - you even start to have chips doing some PhysX stuff (integrated in Graphics Boards)

Everything of course works in DMA (provided your OS has proper drivers).

Sounds very much like an Amiga to me.

So what is the difference between an Amiga back in time, and any PC (or Mac) today ? Well, as I see it, the PC/Mac has become the Amiga of the nineties. The difference is that the OS is far more powerful, eats a lot more resources, and is far more secure (even the less-secured Windows OS is far more secure than any AmigaOS). As much as I like the Amiga, I think most PC/Mac look like what the Amiga was... I don't see what difference would there be in an Amiga of today... Adding an FPGA or some XCORE chip won't make it more "Amiga"... I'm always amazed at how any graphics board today can handle dual screen and such high resolutions in 3D, true-color,... I'm also amazed at how multi-core is great... It's great to be able to run make using multiple cores, it's good to be able to have some videos running in the background without even noticing it... Hopefully CBM would have folllowed Apple and switched to x86.

As for the OS, I guess Amiga could have become MacOSX, without the elegance, cause frankly: AmigaOS has never been elegant (from 1.x versions, through 2.x, to 3.x, and this doesn't change with 4.x), nor easy to use btw: as much as I like it, AmigaOS isn't for the average user... and has never been. It was of course easier to use than DOS back in time, but not easier than MacOS (let's compare it to something that was considered easy...) and also ugly when compared with MacOS. The OS had interesting features, and really easy/clear disk layout (devs in devs/, tools in sys:tools, commodities in sys:tools/commodities), assigns are nice too and aren't to be found anywhere else.

So if there was to be a new Amiga, any good-specs PC like Mac and a powerful OS would do it. What about Haiku ? Enough modern, and enough different from other big-bloated OS... Haiku would be great. But I sure wouldn't base a next gen OS on old Exec+Inutuition libs, would be like build Windows 7 on top of DOS...

[SamuraiCrow]

@Warpdesign

Is your post directed at the original poster, the previous post, or all of us?

[the_leander]

Love your Mac or Wintel as much as you want but neither Apple or MS have done crap all worth mentioning in the last two decades compared to what Commodore did in the 3 years from C64 to Amiga 1000 launches.

I would definately concede the point about MS, tbh I doubt they would have even bothered updating XP were it not for Apple starting to bite (fnarr) into their marketshare and the advances of Linux. I would however draw the line at saying Apple hasn't innovated.

From a hardware perspective, sure, you're right. But as an end to end experience, no one, not even from the past can touch them. You plug in, turn on and *blam* it works. Apples single biggest selling point isn't innovative hardware, or even smexy case/formfactor designs. Its the fact that it offers a reliable, easy to use system out of the box.

That to me is an innovation worth mentioning.

Sorry those ARE the facts, if you don't like them then take your bias to MS/Apple dedicated forums.

Sorry, but you don't get to dictate who goes where on the basis that they may hold differing viewpoints.

Show me a tight responsive OS today that doesn't require more processing power than necessary just to move a pointer on the screen and launch some programs

OK.

...and I will show you OS4 Multi-tasking GUI based multimedia rich OS running on amazingly future proofed hardware that lasted over half a decade safely is a testament to the A1000 and just how advance and revolutionary a product it was.

If by future-proofed (I take it to mean the AmigaOne series), you mean obsolete, not fit for purpose, poorly designed, badly put together. Then yes, right with you. To compare that to what was then a truly revolutionary design in the form of the A1000 however is to do the latter a great disservice.

(and yes I know the Amiga's greatest advantage was ultimately its downfall, the fact it was a closed specification platform with only one manufacturer....it gave all the advantages of a console for programming but was in a revolutionary computer with an elegant and efficient OS...but Commodore left it too late with AGA and it was too little with the same 8bit sound in 1993!!)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who realises this.

Regardless of all else though, use what you use, enjoy it. Have fun

[zombie10k]

I think you have to stop living in the eighties and, open your eyes. The Amiga is a piece of hardware and the OS is only lines of (mostly ASM+BCPL if we talk about the original 1.x OS) code.

You had a CPU, several chips specialised in graphics (copper+blitter), a chip doing (great) sound (and some I/O) stuff and a case.
Back then, PC didn't do sound (Mac was doing some audio though), had mostly text-modes or low-color/low-resolution graphics and of course not any kind of hardware acceleration.

Now, if we get back to today, what do you have in a PC ?

 - a CPU (powerful, dual-core, 64bit, capable of doing SIMD, and many more)
 - a (powerful) graphics chip doing many many more than any Amiga has ever done
 - an audio chip (doing perfect audio stuff, even more than your ears can detect with 24bit audio,...)
 - you even start to have chips doing some PhysX stuff (integrated in Graphics Boards)

Everything of course works in DMA (provided your OS has proper drivers).

Sounds very much like an Amiga to me.

i've tried to stay out of this because of the MAC vs PC arguments, but I like your thought process regarding today's hardware and software capabilities. I've had an Amiga since the A1000 in 1986 right through an A4000 Toaster / Flyer system in 1995 (super expensive at the time). All the time following every mainstream OS from the late 80's right through today.

When CBM went under, there was a time when I thought the innovation was going to die along with it. IMO, there were a number of dark years from both camps. Now in 2010, I can edit 1080HD video like it was nothing on either platform, using inexpensive hardware.

Just recently, I revived an old 2003 Shuttle SFF SB75G2 with 2 GB of cheap ram, threw in a $75 1 TB green drive, and pulled an ATI AGP Video card from the dust bin. Installed MCE 7 and connected it to the Hauppauge HD-PVR. A short config later, I am timeshifting / streaming 1080 video over a GB home network to a number of dedicated Xbox 360 media center extenders.

This is the kind of fun tinkering I would have dreamed about in the 80/90's using the Amiga and with today's excellent hardware and OS's, much of that innovation has resurfaced for me.

Having said that, I will never be quite as attached to the hardware of today as I am with the Amiga's of yesterday. I am glad there is still a large following. It's hard to imagine there would be the same enthusiasm today over the Mac or PC had their time come to an end 15+ years ago.

[warpdesign]

Having said that, I will never be quite as attached to the hardware of today as I am with the Amiga's of yesterday. I am glad there is still a large following. It's hard to imagine there would be the same enthusiasm today over the Mac or PC had their time come to an end 15+ years ago.

Well, why do you think there is this enthusiasm for 15+ years old stuff ? Simply because it's been dead for 15+ years... If Apple had been dead since 1994 it would have been the same, probably. If Amiga was alive and had released new hardware, new software since 1995: do you think so many people would still be playing with 15+ years old stuff ? I really don't think so. You're always more attached to dead stuff...

That being said, I'm happy my (so-bloated) OS doesn't crash, at all.

[zombie10k]

Well, why do you think there is this enthusiasm for 15+ years old stuff ? Simply because it's been dead for 15+ years... If Apple had been dead since 1994 it would have been the same, probably. If Amiga was alive and had released new hardware, new software since 1995: do you think so many people would still be playing with 15+ years old stuff ? I really don't think so. You're always more attached to dead stuff...

That being said, I'm happy my (so-bloated) OS doesn't crash, at all.

perhaps, it's hard to say for sure. I think Commodore in general (C64 & Amiga) has a special place in the hearts of enthusiasts today who remembered this computer as being unique and ahead of it's time during the mid 80's through the early 90's.

Look at the sky-high prices of some of the used hardware, great new products like the individual ECS and AGA flicker fixers, and a large community support system.

I collect all kinds of classic computers dating back to the 70's. No one is knocking down my door for my TI/99 or my Atari 800. I couldn't give away my Mac classic B&W or the original Compaq lugable.

I've been offered small fortunes for my GVP A530 Turbo and a mint SX-64 with the original software/manuals. I'll generally part with any of my retro collection before giving up the C= goodies. None of those systems captured my enthusiasm at the time as the Commodore computers.

[Arkhan]

I think its true.  New PCs are the result of what Amiga laid the ground work for...

and if you want to get really technical, Mac filled in for Amiga.

they seem to be one of the "in" computers to use for graphics work, video editing, and music.   The only thing they failed to pick up on were all the kickass games.


oh and they are pricey, like Amiga's were, and still are!

Either way, wasn't amiga mostly striving for a powerful, multitasking, high end hardware concept that was usable in many fields ranging from home--->commercial stuff?

That's about where todays PC/Mac stuff landed!

[persia]

Bloody collectors have been driving the price of everything through the roof, why can they stay with diamond crusted hummel figurines and leave the Amiga alone?

[Arkhan]

Yeah, Id like to get a decent A500 or A1200 setup again but frik is that expensive as hell either way.