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

[Golem!dk]

Thought you'd have known by now that I still don't have an RTG board on my Amiga and also as I've also said before I'm not into nice looking WB screens or eye candy, to me it's running the apps that count or being able to easily run things from the CLI/SHELL...

Have a look here for some alternative MorphOS skins, it can look rather plain if you prefer that.

[cv643d]

As usual once people start flashing nice MOS screenshots I go looking for cheap MacMini :-)

[pVC]

For YouTube videos you could start with these for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TomrykR0AIc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBl_yfGHm34
http://www.youtube.com/user/JellyPowered#p/u

[save2600]

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 much for providing this overview. Covered a couple of things I still had questions about!

[runequester]

So googledocs works fine then?

I havent put off the idea, but if I am going to shell out for a "new" amiga system, it must have compatibility with modern office formats to some extent, so that'd be nice.

Any way to create PDF files? (does google docs do this?)

PowerPC macs dont seem super cheap atm on craigs list. WHats the specs people would recommend for Morph OS? I see powermacs are supported and most of those are in the 500 ghz range it seems, whereas the mac minis seem a lot beefier.

How much fuss is installation?

I assume full support for USB 2, gamepads etc ?

For apps that can install and run natively, does this work from adf or can I copy an installation from a real amiga or?

Examples of popular applications that will work? (final writer 97, Dpaint etc)

multiple screens / screen dragging?

.info files?

Dumb question maybe but wireless support?

[zylesea]

So googledocs works fine then?

I havent put off the idea, but if I am going to shell out for a "new" amiga system, it must have compatibility with modern office formats to some extent, so that'd be nice.

Any way to create PDF files? (does google docs do this?)

Google doc provides export to pdf, .doc., .odt, .rtf, .html. All in all it works rather well.

PowerPC macs dont seem super cheap atm on craigs list. WHats the specs people would recommend for Morph OS? I see powermacs are supported and most of those are in the 500 ghz range it seems, whereas the mac minis seem a lot beefier.

I think 1Ghz is enough for most things. But there are a few hings where even mor cpu power is required (720p video). I think 720p requires 1.42 GHz at least.

How much fuss is installation?

I assume full support for USB 2, gamepads etc ?

installation takes a few minutes only. The installation is hassleless requires no extra booting in between.
usb 2.0 is supported, but no isochronous mode though (e.g.usb sound cards).

For apps that can install and run natively, does this work from adf or can I copy an installation from a real amiga or?

Examples of popular applications that will work? (final writer 97, Dpaint etc)

multiple screens / screen dragging?

.info files?

Dumb question maybe but wireless support?

.adfs are used for uae only, you better install straightly from cd, usb, network or an attached hdd.
DPaint V is said to work, DPIV not. Finalwriter works, TV-Paint works, Photogenics works.
Multiple screens work as well, screen dragging is not supported (though there is a 3rd party tool, but it is rather of little benefit).
icons are stored as .info files. sysem is compatible to original icons, new icons, glow icons. MorphOS preferred icons are png icons though.
WLAN is not really supported, best work around is a eth/WLAN adapter.

[Matt_H]

So googledocs works fine then?

I havent put off the idea, but if I am going to shell out for a "new" amiga system, it must have compatibility with modern office formats to some extent, so that'd be nice.

Any way to create PDF files? (does google docs do this?)

A few programs have direct output to PDF. There's no direct PDF print driver, but the print system is built around TurboPrint, so you've got PostScript/GhostScript output that you can convert to PDF pretty easily.

PowerPC macs dont seem super cheap atm on craigs list. WHats the specs people would recommend for Morph OS? I see powermacs are supported and most of those are in the 500 ghz range it seems, whereas the mac minis seem a lot beefier.

The biggest performance problem on the PowerUp version was probably the lack of RAM/VRAM, so any Mac should be fine. VRAM issues on 32MB machines still pop up at very high resolutions in "enhanced display" mode, so be aware of that.

How much fuss is installation?

First-time setup for dual booting with OSX takes a bit of work, but nothing too major. If you're trashing the OSX partitions or performing an upgrade it's almost no effort at all.

I assume full support for USB 2, gamepads etc ?

Through Poseidon, yes.

For apps that can install and run natively, does this work from adf or can I copy an installation from a real amiga or?

Either of these works.

Examples of popular applications that will work? (final writer 97, Dpaint etc)

Almost anything that doesn't hit the hardware. So Final Writer (though I recall having some issues with it), yes, DPaint, no.

multiple screens / screen dragging?

Just like Amiga RTG - multiple screens, yes, dragging, no. There's a commodity called Dragon that can fake screen dragging, but I've found it too unstable.

.info files?

Just like any other Amiga.

Basically, MorphOS *is* AmigaOS under a different name. It's not something like AtheOS/Syllable which was meant to be an AmigaOS clone but turned into an OS-with-a-few-features-kinda-sorta-inspired-by-something-AmigaOS-sorta-had"

[JC]

I'm glad that this was brought up because I didn't know you could run morphos on an efika, I thought you had to buy a macmini.

[pVC]

PowerPC macs dont seem super cheap atm on craigs list. WHats the specs people would recommend for Morph OS? I see powermacs are supported and most of those are in the 500 ghz range it seems, whereas the mac minis seem a lot beefier.

I'd say better take one closer to 1GHz or more and preferably R8500/R9xxx based gfx card... more the vmem the better.

How much fuss is installation?

Easier than ever on any Amigaish system. For multiboot it requires some more work, but for MorphOS only it's about pressing c-key hold on the boot to boot from CD and then few clicks with mouse on installation wizard and you're done.

I assume full support for USB 2, gamepads etc ?

Yes, but I think that gamepads should be HID compatible and not require any proprietary drivers. I think most digital ones should work.. analog driving wheels etc need more looking.

For apps that can install and run natively, does this work from adf or can I copy an installation from a real amiga or?

I've copied all my old apps from my real Amiga installation and that's the easiest way. Generally installing on MorphOS should work too. I never installed anything from adf, but I guess you could mount them or unpack to some mounted device...

Examples of popular applications that will work? (final writer 97, Dpaint etc)

What I have configured to my use as 68k versions: FXPaint, PPaint, ArtEffect, ImageFX, Photogenics, Elastic/Fantastic Dreams, TVPaint, Imagine, Real3d, Amplifier, AmigaAMP, GoldED, PageStream, FinalWriter, AmigaWriter, MakeCD, TurboCalc, IBrowse, DCTelnet, AmTelnet, DOpus Magellan2... and lot more

Then there are MorphOS native versions of many Amiga apps too, like YAM, SimpleMail, AWEB, Voyager, SongPlayer, AmIRC, CED...

multiple screens / screen dragging?

Multiple screens yes. You can even have different skins for each MUI screen, and the greatest thing in MorphOS2 is, that its screenbar modules are visible/usable on every MUI screen too.

Screen dragging is available as 3rd party extension, but I'm not sure if many use it or is it still working. I couldn't use it on real RTG Amiga and thus I can't miss it on MorphOS either.

.info files?

Yes. Native icons are plain PNG images (easy to make!), but tooltypes etc are still same.

Dumb question maybe but wireless support?

Not internally (yet). You have to use external access point or similar solution.

[pVC]

I'm glad that this was brought up because I didn't know you could run morphos on an efika, I thought you had to buy a macmini.

Uhm.. what would you run on Efika, if not MorphOS?

Don't forget Pegasos1, Pegasos2, PowerMacs and certain eMac either

[runequester]

thanks guys. lack of wireless is a pain. i guess id have to set up a bridge or something then.
everything else sounds great.

[JC]

Uhm.. what would you run on Efika, if not MorphOS?

QUOTE]

For some reason I was thinking efika was like sam and ran os4.1 or linux but haven't really read much about it in a long time. Wonder why samiga can't run morphos?

[zylesea]

Uhm.. what would you run on Efika, if not MorphOS?

QUOTE]

For some reason I was thinking efika was like sam and ran os4.1 or linux but haven't really read much about it in a long time. Wonder why samiga can't run morphos?

Most Efika 5200B will probably be used as headless devices that run some Linux. If you are interested in MorphOS an Efika is only a suggestion if the benefit of Efika (very small and *very* low energy) is really a matter. It is a maschine for tinkering not so much for easy and intensive usage.
I have an Efika and a Mac mini G4 (and a Peg) - while I like my Efika and use it quite a lot there are *worlds* between them.
Efika is good for a lot of stuff, but the 128 MB RAM *are* an issue.
I think Efika is a great product, really. But rather good for special things like my eframe: http://via.i-networx.de/eframe/eframe.htm. For the similar money you'll get an eMac G4 or Powermac G4.
In short: For tinkering - Efika, for just using - some G4 Mac.

[Golem!dk]

Wonder why samiga can't run morphos?

Simple really, it is not a supported platform, there was little incentive to support it for the MorphOS Team.

[Franko]

@ Golem!dk

Now that's more like it, nothing too fancy just plain & simple (a bit like myself).... Cheers....

@ pVc

Thanks for those links, interesting...

@ save2600

Erm... nothing to say really, just thought I'd tell you I've just farted....

[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.