Using an Amiga as your main, everyday computer?

[commodorejohn]

Not nearly enough income for an everyday-use caliber system, I'm afraid. I might see if I can make a go of it once NatAmi's finally available for purchase, though...

[ElPolloDiabl]

No and it shouldn't matter. Have one main OS on one computer and a bunch of virtual machines and emulators. Sought of a brew your own thing.

[robo-ant]

My Sam440ep with AmigaOS 4.1 is my main home machine.

The biggest problem I have with it is the broken FAT filesystem when using USB devices.  If I want to share data between my Sam and a PC I have to use CDs or DVDs.  Connecting a USB device with a FAT filesystem on it to my Sam and writing to it is almost guaranteed to corrupt the data.  (It's fine if I only _read_ data off the drive, and it's perfect if I format the USB drive to SFS.)  I hope that gets fixed very soon.

The other biggest problem (heh) wouldn't be a problem for most people, but I'm a bit of a cheapskate who doesn't want to spend $50/mo. on an Internet connection, so I am still using dialup.  The Sam's serial port is 'incomplete' and can't do hardware flow control, and I get lots of lost packets.  I have serious connection problems even with my Amithlon, Linux, and C=Amiga boxes, though, so I don't think the Sam's serial port is the only problem.  We have very noisy phone lines in my area.

Mostly the experience is good.  It's more stable than my Commodore-era machines and OSes, and it's easy to manage my photos with it.  I have to use 'foreign' applications like AbiWord and Gnumeric via AmiCygnix for compatibility with the outside world sometimes, but that's OK.  I'm glad I have that option!

I don't have to worry about memory anymore like I had to with previous machines.  If AmigaKit had come out with its ZoRAM memory cards a few years ago I probably would have stuck with my A3K a lot longer.

I got weaned off of hardware-banging games and demos when I moved to Amithlon, so it was easy to move to AmigsOS4.  I think that everything that worked on Amithlon worked on AmigaOS4 right from the start.

Emulation of classic Amiga hardware is a little slow (I have a 667MHz Sam) so I have to set E-UAE to skip frames on some games, but I do still have classic Amigas around the house in case I need to see silky smooth scrolling.

I'm not allowed to bring work home, which is the way I like it.  So it's OK that I don't have Visual Studio, though It sure would be nice to have something that nice on Amiga!

Anyway, for Amiga stuff, it's stable and fast and there's no problem finding compatible keyboards, mouses, monitors, DVD-ReWriters, power supplies, etc.  It likes my Canon DSLR and I can use an external card reader to read the data from my digital camcorder.  The Sam is too slow to play the high def. H.264 video, though.

Oh, there is one FAT-formatted USB device I haven't yet had problems with, and that's my crappy little Sylvania MP3 player.  I seem to be able to move files to/from that thing with my Sam with safety.

Oh yeah, the OS4 version of The Digital Universe is awesome!

I'd like to have a portable Amiga, and I'm open to trying AROS and MorphOS and even switching over if either of those feels comfortable.  I just haven't gotten around to trying either one yet.

[Franko]

Cheers guys

Often wondered when some folk have said here that they need a PC or MAC at home for work what they actually used them for...

Kinda glad I've never had to take my work home with me "sorry Mrs Johnston but I'll be back with your new kitchen in the morning, I'll just take it home with me tonight and finish it in the spare room after me dinner..." don't think a computer would have helped me much there...

[cha05e90]

My main every day machines are my SAM440ep (during the week) and my Pegasos II (weekend). Before entering the "AmigaNG" stuff my A2000s were my master systems. Nevertheless I use a Windows XP netbook (ATOM) for a "quick surf and e-mail" from the couch if I'm to lazy to fire up my Miggies.

[runequester]

Cheers guys

Often wondered when some folk have said here that they need a PC or MAC at home for work what they actually used them for...

Kinda glad I've never had to take my work home with me "sorry Mrs Johnston but I'll be back with your new kitchen in the morning, I'll just take it home with me tonight and finish it in the spare room after me dinner..." don't think a computer would have helped me much there...

that would have set you above and beyond the competition though!

[Buzzfuzz]

I wouldn't trade my pc for an Amiga.
While I know everything can be done from an Amiga, it's simply a matter of work.
And at work they use MS Office and I do too here at home, and I wouldn't want it any other way.
I'm happy with my pc for Office tasks, internet and games.
 
Amiga's are for games and a bit of fun with apps, but other than that they aren't better than modern pc's or Mac's.
Count your blessings with the new ACA accelerators and the upcoming ACA520 (or maybe A530).
The A2000 card (that still has to be a question of what it becomes) and who knows, maybe a full on 3000/4000 060 card with IDE and onboard video.

[Iggy]

I don't use an Amiga everyday, but I use my MorphOS computer everyday and rarely resort to a PC.

[krashan]

I have a PowerMac at home and Pegasos2 at work. They are my main everyday machines.

[amigasociety]

I have a PowerMac at home and Pegasos2 at work. They are my main everyday machines.

Wow, that is cool.  Amiga based system at work instead of the Mac. Kind of cool. Tj

[TheBilgeRat]

@ Runequester

This might sound a bit strange but having never been in a position where I would need to use a computer for my work, I'm just curious to know what sort of things someone who is required to use a computer at work actually needs to do at home with a computer in connection with their work...

Not personal details, just a general idea of why it's needed at home, as I've never known anyone personally who has to do this...

I'm in the same boat - its mostly programming IDEs for Java and some other more modern programming stuff.  But once the A4000 arrives, I'll be working my way towards a solution much like runequesters.  Heck, if I could find a good IDE for Java (like Eclipse) that will run on 3.1 I'd be happy

[Drummerboy]

My Amiga 1200 with OS 3.0 is still my main computer..(i have many more Amigas, but for now i just using any A1200, A4000 and A2000 as backup) yeah.. for me is still my main computer, but  a year ago  started using the pc with windows more often.. (previously only used it when I had to work with something that was not entirely possible to use in Amiga)

Amiga Uses:

For now i still using for Internet browsing, IRC, MSN, Mods, Chiptunes, MP3 music, and other applications specific to my profession in music. Sometimes a play Amiga Games and i like experiment and test emulators in the Amiga and other software develop by many cool Amiga programers which are doing wonders with this machine.

Positive:

Its any Amiga! - Its Amiga OS - its my System since 1985 - Thats says all for me.

Negative:

Basically, Each day that passes is more difficult to support Internet.

Missing:

Not Videos, and other things in nowdays  Internet, like, Skype,  streaming TV, Movies. and others interactive things.

The reality is that it definitely is becoming more difficult to stay on the platform as Main Machine, for now i use PC & Windows every days, but i still using my Amiga almost every day.. anyway i will use my Amiga  until it can use more. And always be my main computer and system.

[Damion]

Lately, my A2000 has been on almost nightly, I love it but there's no way I'd torture myself using it as an only computer. I like all computers and prefer the modern ones for everyday use.

When I "returned" to Amigadom sometime in the early 2000's, as an experiment I ran an A1200 with a Blizz 1260 as a main machine for a while. Being away from Amigas since the mid-90's, I found the challenge of getting it upgraded and on the web enormous fun. I also had a Pegasos 2 I bought new sometime around '04 IIRC, it was fun but I sold it to fund a new PC to play FPS's. Since that time Amiga has been pure hobby, I don't even pretend to do anything serious with them.

[Daedalus]

I would use my AmigaOne most of the time, but unfortunately it's just not possible to do a lot of the things I wanna do, and a 2.7GHz Core2Duo with 4GB Ram and XP is what I use for my "main computer". I try not to use it whenever I can, but for general web browsing it's less stressful, and things like Photoshop, colour calibration for the display, scanner and printer, a decent office suite and being able to use my printer properly are all things I couldn't do without. I also try to use Linux whenever I can, and while it does as well as, Windows at some tasks, they more often than not require more effort to get there.

[TCMSLP]

My daily machine runs Linux.  I also have a single windows install which I need to run Cubase (music is another hobby of mine).  I could almost use my Amiga 1200 as a daily workstation but I find the lack of RTG the limiting factor.  I keep toying with the idea of towering, PCI busboard and RTG but the cost seems prohibitive.

My normal daily use is probably email, messenger, basic web browsing (quite often happy with text mode only!), ssh (to other boxes) and to a lesser extent image editing.   I imagine an RTG amiga could do most of what I needed; I could run an X server (or Amicygnix locally - if that's the right package name?) for any remaining tasks.

If anyone has a tower/busboard they'd like to sell to an enthusiast at non ebay prices ... let me know!

[ElPolloDiabl]

My daily machine runs Linux.  I also have a single windows install which I need to run Cubase (music is another hobby of mine).  I could almost use my Amiga 1200 as a daily workstation but I find the lack of RTG the limiting factor.  I keep toying with the idea of towering, PCI busboard and RTG but the cost seems prohibitive.

My normal daily use is probably email, messenger, basic web browsing (quite often happy with text mode only!), ssh (to other boxes) and to a lesser extent image editing.   I imagine an RTG amiga could do most of what I needed; I could run an X server (or Amicygnix locally - if that's the right package name?) for any remaining tasks.

If anyone has a tower/busboard they'd like to sell to an enthusiast at non ebay prices ... let me know!

It's probably not worth towering. If Natami ever happens it will be a better upgraded Amiga.