Finishing OS4 Mac PPC port?

[jj]

Yes it does.  But that  a dev kit is available is it not ?

[billt]

depends on the driver. The graphics API is not public for example. Not sure about which ones are or are not.

[DiskDoctor]

It's nice to see the discussion, though started by obviously contraversive topic, goes on

But to the point...

@ billt

'd tried suggesting the iBook as a suitable "Amiga laptop" a few years ago to the official licensing contacts. They weren't interested in allowing it to be done.

Well times change.
Look at the franchise's landscape nowadays.

AmigaOne is dead, AInc fights with Hyperion and as I can see, the chances are even, and so on...

So you never know.  Besides it's just an idea.

@ recidivist

I didn't get the paint comparison completely but this is of minor importance.

My point is yes, I agree, that's why I gave one possible outcome which was that AInc officially releases it..  Then the version codename is OS4 MacMini edition.

So problem solved.  Would be.

@ zylesea

I simply don't like alternatives.
I like the core stuff.

But that's nice about morphos you're saying, I didn't know that.  Well that's a piece of news, indeed.

@ JJ

I think source is important (not necessarily mandatory, just good to have it or at least to consider) for API driver plugging.  I guess or I am just dumb...

About the "whatever on whichever"; as recidivist says... you can do it UNLESS you're told not to do so, sometimes you're told and agree automatically by buying something.

So.. It depends.

@ billt

After my last post... I knew some US guy will crucify me for this dumb comparison I already said was...

Dude, You're 200% right; I'd kill somebody caught red handed on touching my car (or staring at it repeatedly)

Yes.  The case was silly.  There's a difference between private and corporate property.  Solid and intelectual.  I mean moral, not legal.  breaking and entering, thrashing someone else's stuff is EVIL.

But having an adventure with a neglected piece of software... I would.

Eventually I would confess in the court.

My apologies, again.  Hope you'll accept it.

[Hans_]

billt wrote:
I'd tried suggesting the iBook as a suitable "Amiga laptop" a few years ago to the official licensing contacts. They weren't interested in allowing it to be done. But, for those interested in collecting specs/documentation for hte PPC mac hardware...

http://amigamac.wikispaces.com/

Though considering how very very very very little was contributed by anyone other than myself (I did copy/paste a couple small things from an email or two, but I did have to do that much too) I doubt it's really worth it at this point. And I would absolutely LOVE OS4 on a laptop. So much I've been trying to figure out other altarnatives for years. Ain't an easy problem to solve...

I'd really like an OS 4 laptop too, but I'm not in a position to help collecting specs/documentation since I don't have an iBook.

Hans

[Gebrochen]

@Zylesea

Because not all of us want to run MorphOS on a mac mini, some of us would prefer to choose between the Os's, and would run Amiga OS natively on a mac mini, rather than MorphOS natively on mac mini.

BTW, various things on MorphOS remind me too much of Windows, I HATE that. Id rather use Linux, and nw that really does have similarities.

thats what I like about the Amiga OS, it is still, different in many ways versus the Normal approach idea.

Perhaps it is better said, that Amiga OS I am using right now, keeps me stress free whereby when I try to use Morph, Windows, Linux, they remind me toomuch of my enemy, windoze itself.

Again, just IMHO. :roll:

[DiskDoctor]

Well, on the other hand...

PPC Macs are discontinued for three years so the only way to get them is an ebay or sth.

Also, there exists a hardware for OS4 already so actually why bother porting the OS to some discontinued and non-supported platform?  We should also wait for the AInc trial outcome, this year maybe?  That will, of course, gear up all platform's releases' pace.

Maybe it is better to focus development on something existing and supported?  Like OS4 software which is needed, indeed.  The more OS4 applications in total resemble an ordinary MacOSX or Windows desktop environment, the more OS4 platform becomes their full substitute...

Yeah also the legal issues, that project wouldn't be clean on that.

So maybe I should divert my efforts into some more applicable branches of support for the franchise and community.

Besides, any of you guys know the source of OS4-compliant software? (proprietary actually)

I got this link:

http://os4depot.net/

but still, more would be great.

[billt]

Also, there exists a hardware for OS4 already so actually why bother porting the OS to some discontinued and non-supported platform?

Because there exists not a freakin laptop for OS4.*

[DiskDoctor]

Because there exists not a freakin laptop for OS4.*

Why portable?

MacMini is really small so you can grab it and bear wherever you want.  Roughly...

I know your point.  Haven't you been thinking on assembling one of those AmigaOne motherboards (or Sammantha, either one) with a LCD/TFT notebook screen and cover?  It must be doable since all these are really tiny.

As I was saying... all PPC Macs became obsolete three years ago exactly so in one year maybe, most of the units will become eventually broken.

So there's not really much point investing some year or so in order to have half-legal AOS4 version working on  abandoned Mac "Frankenstein" PPCs  (if you're lucky).

As for the laptop itself... I am afraid there's no proprietary notebook hardware to be released under the franchise's umbrella because the system itself claims to be more embedded than desktop.

Unless of course, market share hits some visible figure.

So yes, only the do-yourself-at-home attitude would get you a solution you want.

[billt]

Why portable?  MacMini is really small so you can grab it and bear wherever you want. Roughly...

Laptop sales now outnumber desktop sales in consumer market.

I don't want to be tethered to a monitor or outlet. I want to be able to use it on a bus or at the airport or at my parents' place without having to lug a pile of equipment with me. Mini ain't much useful without monitor, keyboard, etc. I don't see it as an acceptable portable solution, the small size is only a slight improvement to portability over an average sized desktop box.

So there's not really much point investing some year or so in order to have half-legal AOS4 version working on abandoned Mac "Frankenstein" PPCs (if you're lucky).

?? It is your thread & suggestion to get it completed ?? Why the sudden change of heart?

Even these old obsolete PPC Macs offer far superior performance than any "Amiga hardware" ever made even currently today. More features, more choices, PCI-Express in some, convenient portability in laptops. I'm really sick of wondering how long we'll have hardware available, and if there will ever be anything I want to buy (laptop).

I don't understand why making an embedded business model, because there's less demand that everything is Windows that way and thus some potential for a market outside of us, excludes chance of a laptop. All those trendy PC subnotebooks are running embedded chips. Linux is in mor eembedded stuff that not, yet is also quite usable on desktop/laptop, feature set allows that. Why should OS4 not want to scale that way too?

[DiskDoctor]

?? It is your thread & suggestion to get it completed ?? Why the sudden change of heart?

Well... To be honest... My Mac Mini CD drive got broken finally yet yesterday

I think that would slow things down actually...

Also, I think when getting OS4 environment is actually POSSIBLE now, one might focus on some other stuff to do about it (I mean software maybe?).  This is not the issue to me, whether start making something or not, the point is which should be made so that it provides greatest value added.

I do not say I wouldn't do it.  I just said I got my morale lowered; why making MiniPPC port when I won't be able to run it anymore?
I might get into some project as much helpful instead.

[kickstart]

Gebrochen wrote:

BTW, various things on MorphOS remind me too much of Windows, I HATE that. Id rather use Linux, and nw that really does have similarities.

Oh... mophos remnind you too much to windows? and you hate morphos by it?

An OS with better compatibility with friendly OS utilities than amigaOS 4.1... give thanks for morphos to macmini please.

[billt]

My ibook is broken also. The LCD backlight went dark, and it became tethered to a desktop monitor for a couple months. This weekend I finally bothered to copy my stuff over to my PC laptop, so I do nto require the iBook for email right now. Since I do not require to use the iBook for things liek that, I can now set my sights on fixing the thing. I've replaced LCD lamps before. It's a pain, it's tedious, and I need to dig very deeply into it to find out what replacement lamp to order. Ugh... But I will get it fixed. It's a nice laptop. I recently put a much larger hard drive into it. (that was a tedious pain too)

Surely you can make time and save money to fix your Mini as well someday?

[DiskDoctor]

Surely you can make time and save money to fix your Mini as well someday?

Someday maybe.

I hate suffering.  My local Apple service bills 300$ for a stupid combo drive...  I might of course do it myself but... this 300$ seems a missing brick in my purchase of samantha.

If I was to choose now I'd like to have OS4 home as soon as possible.

As I said; I might do something useful as well.
I hope.

But again someday...

Or just try doing as much as possible within this MacPPC project call it, until it needs to boot from a CD.

[zylesea]

Well, what about a cheap external usb CD/DVD drive? The firmware should handle that, so it should be possible to boot from that.

[bloodline]

zylesea wrote:
Well, what about a cheap external usb CD/DVD drive? The firmware should handle that, so it should be possible to boot from that.

I can confirm the intel Mac will boot from any external USB/Firewire CD/DVD drive or Hard Drive or USB stick :-)

[Golem!dk]

It's really not that hard to replace the optical drive in a mini, have a look here.

Replaced the combo drive in mine with an Optiarc AD-7633A.
Oh... and I only had my mini boot from an external fw drive, not usb.