Finishing OS4 Mac PPC port?

[DiskDoctor]

Hi. there.

I just got a suggestion that somebody (not Hyperion, not AInc nor vendors like Acube) should get this amazing thing finished.

Arguments:
- it ALMOST works so we're pretty close to the end
- when done, one might MAKE Amiga Inc support this and any reseller might start shipping PPC Mac OS4 CD
- I managed to boot it on my Mac Mini so I'm horny until I have it all working
- highly low budget cost; despite of the eventual cost of the official CD to be, the hardware is cheap and available (50% of sam440 cost, minus hard and cd drive)

What is needed:
- all the specs possible (available) that is
- - hardware (sam, amigaone, pegasus, mac PPC
- - software (os3, os4, os4.1, morphos)
- some coding manpower (some three should do it)
- time and patience
- tests on every PPC spec around

The aim:
- to get AOS4.0/4.1 roughly functional on e.g. MAc Mini PPC
- - drives
- - internet
- - sound
- - necessary graphics
- - any other things would be cool
- spreading it throughout (AmigaInc?)

That's my point.
Any comments?

[DiskDoctor]

@ Colani1200

Well let's assume I didn't guess.

I can surmise that you're suggesting it cannot be done.
Did I ever say that it is doable?

Please enlight me then.  I really want to know.

I suppose I quickly mentioned all the things considered mandatory here.

[DiskDoctor]

@ Ruud

That's what I thought of, too.  Legal stuff.

OS4 source cannot and MUST NOT be retrieved, what I meant was reverse engineering some driver parts, compared against Mac stuff (OSX and Darwin available knowledge combined), plus morphos, pegasus... This is all connected.  Everything is connected in IT.  Though they differ much, both Windows and Unix seem POSIX system, don't they?  But, still, it's a sin, I know.

Yes, OS4 copyright owner (and any rights to hack it heavily) is not decided today, despite of the fact there EXISTS one virtually, which I am NOT at all.

What I meant to do/planned was a kind of a prank development in a legal sense.  It's like...

(...)

A couple continues arguing whose car is some, say, Ford Scorpio of theirs.  The radio in the car is broken.  Meanwhile, I simply break into it (not crashing anything) and fix the radio.  Then I knock at the door and say "Hey, I fixed Your radio.  You can sell it on ebay now 'cause it's highly profitable.  If not, keep it, fine, I'll just tell my friends how to fix such problem if occurs..."

**

Well, messy comparison but the point is obvious; eventually AInc/Hyperion could thrash the project (some policy I suppose) but hey, I meant fun, not business.  If someone seizes selling something, the decision may turn right or completely stupid.

But that is not my problem.

Or am I wrong?
Am I a thief thinking of that idea already?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[DiskDoctor]

ferrellsl wrote:
@Persia

Finally, someone on this board who has the courage to tell the truth!  And I might add that the price for a SAM is freakin' outrageous!

Unfortunately it's true, unless some kind of promotion as this happens again, than it is "just" very high.

I think the price is, indeed, stupid from a consumer's perspective.  It reminds me of times when I worked in b2b hardware sales.  Stuff like printservers or serial converters were 3-5 x more expensive than some other brands' consumer-targeted products with similar specs(!).  It is understandable since such items are usually sold in various sorts of tenders worth millions $$ in total, in heavy amounts, being largely discounted, though.

So maybe the case is that ACube maintains industrial/b2b offer (does anybody have a link to some final solution, not necessarily with AOS4 in it?) while simultaneously forgetting/neglecting/scr*wing regular consumers?

Funny, if they dropped the price, say, 30%, they would surely feel the impact.  Also, manufacturing and assembling such stuff usually doesn't exceed 20% of the SRP, in this case I'm sure it's below 10%.  Or if it is more, why are they not outsourcing the whole thing to China or another freaky place to hit the price down?

What's that margin for while your can hardly make profits out of it?