Amiga User Turns to PegasosII

[takemehomegrandma]

@ choochy

The hardware design and components of the Pegasos II is *EXCELLENT*! There is no other word that can describe it! The only thing one could strike down upon in the past, was the firmware. I have personally seen three different firmware versions since last Christmas. That is fast progress IMHO ;-)! Today the firmware in Peg2 is very good, especially if you don't use Seagate HDD's (like I do ;-)). Genesi has in several posts written about their ambitions regarding the firmware and the open desktop workstation. So I don't see any reason to believe that the firmware development will slow down in the future, rather the opposite. I believe that lots of exciting features will come to the Peg2 firmware in a not so distant future ... :-D

[kd7ota]

@takemehomegrandma

Yea, I understand that you have them to be just workhorses for a few things. Not trying to badmouth any OS really. I have an Asus A7N8X-X board which as the Nforce2 chipset. Its fast and gets the job done just right.

Yea, I been putting thought into the Pegasos board. They do look nice and are nice n compact.  I just want an OS to do a few things really. If they could get a few applications over to MorphOS, them I would definately go over with it.

1.JAVA
2.Instant Messengers by Yahoo! and MSN.
(I know that Jabberwocky exists, but I like the fancy features that the official clients offer.)
3.A 100% up to date webbrowser like IE or Netscape or even Mozilla.
4.A few choice games. (Counterstrike, Quake III, unreal tournament.)

I know its kind of a lot to ask for an OS, but its what is used alot just anyways.  Even though they release new PC games, i am not near interested in them. The older games are fun to me and its all I want to play.

We will see how things turn out. Until them, i am going to be stuck in the world of PC Windows XP.  :-D

[Plaz]

We will see how things turn out. Until them, i am going to be stuck in the world of PC Windows XP.

Yeah, me too. I can put a nice article together about how I moved from A3000/Bars&Pipes to PentiumXP/SonarCakewalk, but I doubt anyone cares. :-P
I'm waiting to see what comes about with the microA1.

Plaz

[spihunter]

@Wayne,

Your totally correct!. Most people dont care how computers work, and they certainly dont want to fix one!. The problem is that they have no choice!. I work with over 100 people who have computers that dont really care about computers. They just want them to work. I'd say that I've had about 75% of the their machines sitting in my living room because there all running windows and so overrun with adware that they can no longer check their email or surf the net.

I dont see this changing anytime soon. If we still had 4/5 equally market shared OS's then maybe this problem wouldnt be so out of control.

[redfox]

Interesting article.  I hope it works out well for him.

---------------
redfox

[Legerdemain]

XP Pro is a great step in the right direction, even if they skipped a few steps along the way.

XP Pro is one of the biggest jokes in the Windows history, according to me.

1. Much about the networking performances are way bad, at least when compared to W2K (slower transfers, higher incompability with other computers using other MS-OS:es).

2. It seems to be one of the most insecure actively used OS:es out there, holes everywhere which does not seem to be updated and corrected in a very rapid fashion.

3. It suffers froms the "CD/DVD-drive dissapeared from my system list and is not possible to get back there in any way"-bug (not one person I know that has experienced this bug, and believe me they are many, has been able to reinstall the drivers and fix the corrupted keys in the registry unless they have had system recovery activated and rolled-back the OS to a time before this bug occured (only to re-experience it in a not to distant future).

4. Unless one is very daring and or have taken part of some article discussing the various programs, one can hardly find all the hidden programs dealing with the OS. Oh, so there is a program called msconfig (which apparently have been there in every Windows since long, besides in w2k?), and we have the sysoc.inf in the hidden drawer INF which has a tag "hide" which disables many Window programs from appearing on the "install/remove window programs"-list? oh, and in the registry, one can actually search for the trashcan and remove the entire key, if the right key and not one of the wrong making windows present a nice error-message when starting it up, simply to finally be able to remove it from the desktop (unless using, like, Powertoys TweakUI or something, which if played around with to much also can make way for the "CD/DVD-drive dissapeared from my system list and is not possible to get back there in any way"-bug). Oh dear.

5. It got themes. You can install StyleXP if you want to. It makes the OS look a bit nicer. But, really, what else that makes it better than w2k has it REALLY got?

6. I mean, it does really have a "My Music" and a "My Pictures" folder. And a "My Documents". One can really not have them, or at least not the "My Documents" drawer. It's not like one would ever put ones documents in another drawer. And, it wasn't like Microsoft also promoted these drawers as one of the new cool functions in XP, no no no. Just like they said it was the easiest OS yet (for all the ones that never configures anything and are afraid that their computer may explode when they touch the mouse, maybe, because when and if ANYTHING goes wrong with the OS... one should be really lucky to find out what it is... since everything is so "simplified" that not even a true technician knows what to do besides what the manual says concerning XP).

Yes. I do know that this is almost like ranting. But, I seriously consider XP being way more flawfilled than w2k. Even though there is an apparent lack of heavy technical facts presented here in my little comment. I simply want to present to you people a feeling of frustration (I actually smashed my keyboard to pieces after having experienced the CD/DVD-bug a couple of days ago. Just like always I had to reinstall XP, and at this very particular time it was not really the best of times to do that. So, I smashed my keyboard. I bought it for like $3, so it was so way worth it).

[csirac_]

It suffers froms the "CD/DVD-drive dissapeared from my system list and is not possible to get back there in any way"-bug (not one person I know that has experienced this bug, and believe me they are many, has been able to reinstall the drivers and fix the corrupted keys in the registry unless they have had system recovery activated and rolled-back the OS to a time before this bug occured (only to re-experience it in a not to distant future).

I work tech support 3 months of the year and I've actually had something quite the reverse happen much more often: network adapters that won't go away (and you're trying to remove them to solve a different problem).

There's a whole plethora, a whole WORLD of NT commands under there that are just as obscure as Linux when it comes to fixing things that are broken. "netsh int reset" (or something along those lines) will refresh the registry entries for the network adapters in your current system hardware profile.

Then there's the registering/unregistering of services, fixing COM+ errors, etc.

If it wasn't for the Microsoft Knowledge base, I'd say you are in a WORSE position trying to fix a freaky Windows problem as opposed to a Linux one. And even then, I still maintain Linux is much easier to fix since things are easier to isolate (less integrated).

The best thing about XP over Win9x (as a replacement for the home desktop) is certainly the system log. It makes troubleshooting a LOT easier.

I can't wait for Linux to become more common on the corporate desktop. At the same time, I don't think anyone truly believes that Linux is easier for joe user at home.

[Dan]

Maybe it´s just me but I can´t understand how people can give up their classic amigas?

[rayt]

Maybe it´s just me but I can´t understand how people can give up their classic amigas?

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same.. Maybe I will buy a MicroA1 in the future but I would never sell my Amiga to get the money.

[Acill]

I never intended it to be a review. It was meant as my view on the switch and where I came from to get to that point, Exactly what is writen. I did write a proper review that will be published in the next issue of Total Amiga. for those looking for one.

[System]

Maybe it´s just me but I can´t understand how people can give up their classic amigas?

No, it's not just you, but a lot of people wonder why in the hell people still even bother to use classic Amiga computers.  Take me for example.  I love the classic Amiga's design, but in the real world have absolutely no use for one.

I don't have a use for either a Pegasos or A1 either.  I see both very clearly for exactly what they are.  That is to say that both are simply faster versions of the Classic Amiga with a long-overdue smattering of standard components built onto them.

Everyone is different.  I basically live on the Internet.  It's where I work, where I play, and where I do about everything.  The Amiga, classic or otherwise is pitifully lacking in that arena.  Always has been.  Credit where credit is due however, at least the browsers for the Amiga are still getting better.

I recently received a legal copy of Amiga Forever 6 (Online edition) for evaluation.  I've been meaning to write a review of it, because honestly it's a hell of a great piece of work (for what it does).  I simply haven't had the opportunity.

Don't get me wrong.  The Pegasos is a professional piece of work, and MorphOS is coming along very, very nicely but Amiga Forever is faster at emulating the Amiga on my Athlon XP 2800 than my Pegasos G3 is at being one.  

If I ever need to do anything on the Amiga -- which is very, very rare -- I pull up Amiga forever, get it done, and get back to the real world.  

So, for what.. $30?  I already have the next generation "Amiga" sitting on my hard drive.  It installed in about 5 minutes, and I haven't found anything I couldn't make work with it.  

Honestly though I've forgotten so much about the Amiga's orientation throughout the years that for me, getting things to work is much harder than it is with Windows XP.  

I would say that's just me, but honestly when an HD installer is considered a luxury item, the Amiga is in very very sad shape.

Sorry folks, I know that doesn't sit well with a lot of you, but that's just the way I feel.  If you want a faster classic Amiga (which is all the A1 / Pegasos are), buy a good, fast PC and a copy of Amiga Forever.  Having both a Pegasos as well as Amiga forever, I can readily state that they're just about the same thing.  The difference is, I can actually turn off Amiga forever and get some actual work done.

Wayne

[itix]

Maybe it´s just me but I can´t understand how people can give up their classic amigas?

I thought same, but after trying Pegasos I cant understand how people can still use their classic Amigas :-P

[samo79]

I think that Amiga Forerver 6.0 is a good software, but is just an emulator, i don't agree with you, is it impossible to see AF as a new Amiga...

Much better an AmigaOne with a native version of AmigaOS PPC for me

[Jose]

AmigaOS and the like are used because some people like to mess around more with the inner workings of the OS, or at least understand what it does in the background in some level.
Windows are OSes for people that don't understand a {bleep} abour computers. They abstract the user completely and make all the decisions for him.
In that respect I don't think AmigaOS should EVER become a general desktop OS. People that like computers for what are,  normally disklike windows one way or another...

[Dan]

Well, I use UAE and I think it´s great but there are some things that I still prefer to use my A1200 for like games and some hw-banging programs.

I can´t see how UAE, A1, Pegasos or AROS could replace the real thing for that.

Honestly, I too spend most of my time in front of Windows and fire up uae only a couple of times in a week(mostly because I can´t stand graphicsprograms for wintel). It can go weeks between the times I switch on any of my Amigas, but it´s a great comfort to know I have them.

I think the "next generation amiga" will be AROS with UAE simply because of the price.

[KennyR]

Wayne wrote:
...but Amiga Forever is faster at emulating the Amiga on my Athlon XP 2800 than my Pegasos G3 is at being one.

I have to say that I don't agree there. An Athlon 2800 leaves a G3 choking in dust, but WinUAE is as slow as a dog, especially where graphics are concerned. I'd still prefer my Peg to UAE, even in just the speed stakes.