1.42ghz emac for morphOS?

[haywirepc]

Okay so having been told things like super stardust aga and other aga games run pretty well on morphos at 1.25ghz, I would like to get a mac for morphOS.

I would prefer an emac because its all in one and I kinda like that form factor. I know the emac 1.25ghz is supported, but is the 1.42ghz version working with morphOS. I understand its not that big a diference in speed but every little bit helps I think...

Otherwise, can someone reccomend a power mac model for MorphOS?

Steven

[Wolfe]

I don't think 3D is supported on this unit yet, maybe in 3.0?  Ask the MOS Team about future 3D support for the 9600 ATI GPU.  

My preferred poison is the 1.5 GHz Mac Mini (silent upgrade).

[amigadave]

Okay so having been told things like super stardust aga and other aga games run pretty well on morphos at 1.25ghz, I would like to get a mac for morphOS.

I would prefer an emac because its all in one and I kinda like that form factor. I know the emac 1.25ghz is supported, but is the 1.42ghz version working with morphOS. I understand its not that big a diference in speed but every little bit helps I think...

Otherwise, can someone reccomend a power mac model for MorphOS?

Steven

There was some question about the 1.42GHz model of the eMac working with MorphOS, only because it had not been tested by the MorphOS Dev. Team.  But some time later, someone did confirm that both the 1.25GHz and 1.42GHz G4 eMac models work with MorphOS2.7 (IIRC).

So I would say go for it if you can find one locally.  If you have to have it shipped, it will cost as much or more to ship a G4 eMac as it would to ship a G4 PowerMac.  Any of the G4 PowerMac's will be supported from 500MHz up to the last ones released that were 1.42GHz, but you might need to replace the video card on some models that originally came with NVidia video cards instead of Radeon cards.  The 400MHz and 450MHz G4 PowerMacs may also work.  I think the official announcement mentions that all "New World" G4 PowerMacs are supported, but I don't know what the definition of what a "New World" PowerMac is.

Good luck with your search and enjoy your MorphOS experience.  If you have any problems setting it up or installing MorphOS on it when you find one, don't hesitate to ask questions.

[commodorejohn]

The 400MHz and 450MHz G4 PowerMacs may also work.  I think the official announcement mentions that all "New World" G4 PowerMacs are supported, but I don't know what the definition of what a "New World" PowerMac is.

"New World" Macs are the ones that use a full OpenFirmware ROM instead of prior limited-OF-plus-Mac Toolbox ROMs. Every PPC Mac from the iMac G3 forward is a New World Mac. The first New World Power Mac is the Power Mac G3 Blue & White (the beige PMG3 is an Old World Mac.) No G4 machines have an Old World ROM (unless there's an accelerator for one of the earlier machines, but eh, details.)

[Ruud]

MorphOS does indeed run on the 1.42Ghz eMac.  The Radeon 9600 driver is a little sluggish at present and there is no 3D but this should change with the release of MorphOS 3 or 3.1.  Otherwise it's a solid (literally and figuratively) machine to run MorphOS on.  However I would still recomend a mac mini 1.5Ghz if you can afford one.

MorphOS on eMac 1.42Ghz:
http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt11/Ruud-/Grab.png

[Debaser]

I am glad to hear that you are planning to try out Morphos. I just hope you are not dissapointed due to the emac's shortcomings, there is already a thread on making on head-less Emac on another forum. I would try to track down a G4 Powermac and given that you are in Philadelphia - you will not have a hard time nabbing a good deal on craigslist with a few days of patience.

Then again.... talk this guy down and you have a steal.....

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/ele/2677802132.html

[XDelusion]

You DO NOT want to jump into the wonderful MorphOS experience with an eMac!!!!

That is what I did, and while I am amazed at what all MorphOS is capable of and how well polished it is, I have to admit that on an eMac, it can be a very irritating experience.

First and foremost, the monitors on eMacs are generally dark, and if they are not dark they will eventually go dark and eventually burn out, which is why I'm currently beheading my eMac and re-casing it.
Sure people tell you that you can adjust the gamma and brightness and this and that, but I can tell you that it does nothing to improve movie display, they are still going to be dark and the boost in brightness and gamma WILL give you a head ache, or at least make your eyes sore.

My second complaint is that for some reason, MorphOS loves to chew up that graphics RAM, and there are a few apps out there that chew it up for no reason too, like the old out dated port of PrBOOM classic for instance.
The negative impact this will have is game slow down, and a limit to how many applications you can run at one time.
On top of that, you will not be able to use a Background Picture for your desktop without wasting precious RAM. I have tried using a low color, low resolution image and still found that it wanted to eat up at least 1/4th of my GFX RAM.
To make the 32Mb GFX RAM limitation even worse, you will not be able to use all the extra eye candy that Ambient provides. Yes you can turn it on, but again it will rape you of your RAM.

The CPU is an Ok speed, and once JIT gets ported over to PPC, it will be of a lot more use to emulating that old software that will not run natively on MorphOS, but as things stand, there is no JIT PPC, so if you need to emulate, your experience will be very limited...

about a stock A500/A1200 speed range.

Buy a Mac Mini with 64Mb GFX Ram, or a Tower, avoid eMac at all costs!!!!

Okay so having been told things like super stardust aga and other aga games run pretty well on morphos at 1.25ghz, I would like to get a mac for morphOS.

I would prefer an emac because its all in one and I kinda like that form factor. I know the emac 1.25ghz is supported, but is the 1.42ghz version working with morphOS. I understand its not that big a diference in speed but every little bit helps I think...

Otherwise, can someone reccomend a power mac model for MorphOS?

Steven

[danwood]

Okay so having been told things like super stardust aga and other aga games run pretty well on morphos at 1.25ghz, I would like to get a mac for morphOS.

You have been misinformed if you were told they would run natively.  MOS on Mac hardware can only run "system friendly" apps, not hardware banging games as you listed.

An emac is an affordable machine if you don't mind being stuck with CRT.  You could get a Powermac G4 for a few bucks more though, or a Mini G4.

[XDelusion]

You have been misinformed if you were told they would run natively.  MOS on Mac hardware can only run "system friendly" apps, not hardware banging games as you listed.

An emac is an affordable machine if you don't mind being stuck with CRT.  You could get a Powermac G4 for a few bucks more though, or a Mini G4.

Oh yes, that's what I should have gone more into detail on as well...

Anything that expects the ECS/AGA Chipset, and or the Paula WILL NEED to be run via emulation. On the other hand there are a slew of apps and games that do not make direct calls to these chips and or are retargetable, and those work just fine.

The story is the same with OS 4 and ARO...

oh wait, AROS doesn't run any native apps what so ever! (sorry could not resist).

[zylesea]

The CPU is an Ok speed, and once JIT gets ported over to PPC, it will be of a lot more use to emulating that old software that will not run natively on MorphOS, but as things stand, there is no JIT PPC, so if you need to emulate, your experience will be very limited...

Just to avoid confusion I like to point out that there's no 68k JIT for UAE/PPC, but of course MorphOS itself has a 68k JIT. 68k programs that work w/o custom hardware are very fast.

I think an emac is good if you can get one for nearly free to get a first impression of MorphOS or if you want to do some hardware tinkering. Best suggestion is to get a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver or MDD if you have space for a big case, otherwise a Mac mini G4 1.5 or a Powerbook 1.67 (MorphOS 3.0, probbly December this year) is the best choice.

[XDelusion]

Just to avoid confusion I like to point out that there's no 68k JIT for UAE/PPC, but of course MorphOS itself has a 68k JIT. 68k programs that work w/o custom hardware are very fast.

I think an emac is good if you can get one for nearly free to get a first impression of MorphOS or if you want to do some hardware tinkering. Best suggestion is to get a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver or MDD if you have space for a big case, otherwise a Mac mini G4 1.5 or a Powerbook 1.67 (MorphOS 3.0, probbly December this year) is the best choice.

Point A: A JIT based UAE for OS 4 is being worked on. When it is finished the sources will be released and I would imagine that MorphOS's UAE will be taking advantage of that when the day comes.

Point B: The eMac is a good machine to tinker with if you should get one for free, but DO NOT register MorphOS on it, save your registration for a better machine. Again the eMac experience is HIGHLY underwhelming in the end.

[commodorejohn]

I've never found an all-in-one computer that I liked after the original compact Macs, myself. They're just so limiting, and such a pain to repair when they break. I'd recommend a Power Mac G4, really - they're not as large as they look, and it's a billion times easier to expand them if you find you need more than stock capability.