Amiga emulators: is it worth it?

[Darrin]

As someone who has used WinUAE for years and bought several Amiga Forever packages I can honestly say that if you want to play games and "feel" as if you're using a real Amiga (and AGA isn't an issue) then the Minimig is the only solution.

WinUAE certainly works, but the look and feel is missing.  When it comes to using digital joysticks then the frustration factor just grows.

With the Minimig (once you've set up your core and PIC) it may as well be a real Amiga.  You switch on, you see the "insert floppy" logo as per your Kickstart version and you insert your "disk" (ADF).  I also love the way I can keep both of my digital joysticks attached thanks to the PS2 mouse.

Who want's to go through the ball-ache of waiting for your PC's OS to load, runing UAE, selecting the configuration, etc when you can just switch on your Minimig?

With Hard File support already working on the prototype ARM board, it will so be available to the masses and I'm ready to solder on my RAM expansion too.

[Darrin]

DiskDoctor wrote:

the Minimig is the only solution

Yes that's probably the best solution for those wanting to play on a "brand new Amiga 500" environment.

But my case is I'd like both play and use OS4 as my prime desktop environment.

I'm considering SAM with OS4/4.1 and want to use it for playing ancient games (I never managed to get myself interested in any PC game since, maybe there's one exception), also I want to use the web browser, some multimedia features but also some office (word processor MS Word-compatible?) and so.

Actually when considering 1000$ purchase (my local reseller's price), I want something more than just games (Minimig is much cheaper, though)... I want it all!  Or maybe just all that's available, with fewest compromises possible.

I still wonder why OS4 developers didn't simply wrap the classic 1.3 Kickstart as a built-in Virtual Machine.  Apple did it since switching to OS X and the solution is perfect!  Instead, when I want to use Sam I'm forced to go, again, into some software emulation I never trusted.

I understand.  I'm toying with the whole Sam(flex)/OS4.1 idea, but I'm still faced with teh fact that everything I currently want to do I can do either on my Minimig or expanded A4000.

An entire "virtual A500/A1200" in OS4.x would be ideal.  I'm sure it's on the list of thinsg to do.  :-)