Will OS4 have SMP after all

[OlafS3]

And what it will be like ?

I ask because I want to know ... :smack:

On a aros discussion I can remember I believe AMP as concept but only special programmed software (that means new or adapted) would benefit from it, the others would still run with one core. But I do not know if they (the AROS devs) have made any decisions.

[OlafS3]

Why do you not have backward compatibility when using UAE? You only have a problem with f.e. libraries that only exist for 68k and cannot be ported. I do not know how often this is the case and how many software needs this. And of course you have a problem with components written in assembler and thus not be portable. But if MorphOS dev are looking in future they have avoided this.

[OlafS3]

JanusUAE is sharing clipboard but f.e. not AREXX port. You can add AREXX in AROS 68k by simply copy rexxsyslib and rexxmast. I know that there is some sort of AREXX implementation on AROS X86 but I do not think that the ports between both worlds are shared. Filesystem sharing should be possible (have not tested it myself because I mostly use AROS 68k on WinUAE). But even if all is shared there is a loss compared to the solution in MorphOS and AmigaOS. On the other hand the OS is freed to run on modern hardware.

[OlafS3]

And...?

+1

I do not really understand either. On X86 you have X86 software, on ARM you have ARM, on PPC PPC, on 68k 68k. You cannot mix everything.

[OlafS3]

Yes I know :-)

but that means that it sticks to PPC forever...

[OlafS3]

I could think of worse things than a four core P5040, with the Abox running on one core.

to what price?

I personal can only hope MorphOS sticks to PPC (as AmigaOS) so no competition for AROS on X86/X64 for a long time :-)

[OlafS3]

You seem to be forgetting that Aros is free so "competition" ROFL

Morphos and Aros camps combined (let's leave millions of AOS 4 users
out of it ) , number in thousands of souls ...
New users are what is needed and if there is no new users coming now
that both Morphos and Aros are mature and everyone can afford them
then what is the whole point in investing even more time and muscle
in it ?

More promotion is what is needed , both Aros and Morphos are way
cool OSes from a general PC/Windows/Linux perspective and are
fun to use ...

Yes they are. And I try that already (to a certain degree). The problem is no software no user, no user no software. We must overcome this circle. It is not a technical problem like many user think, like missing MP.

[OlafS3]

forbid() is part of the exec.library API, and loads of Amiga software uses it as it is a quick and simple way of locking a resource and making sure your operation is atomic... But for a while now, AROS devs have been encouraged to use alternative locking methods that don't freeze the system.

Also there is no issue with AROS 68k or any other AROS port if AROS gets a working SMP implementation, if the system only have one CPU it will work just as AROS/AmigaOS does now... And key to any implementation is that is doesn't break older software anyway (even if that means the older software might be slowing down the newer software, if that is an issue, don't run the older software or rewrite it to take advantage of the newer systems).

I do not know what is planned. I personal would wish a kind of compatibility mode so it is possible to run it more compatible to old software or with new features when you only use newer software.

[OlafS3]

for that project we would really need a wonder :-)

besides it was not able to do SMP. Or was something like PowerUP planned?