AmigaOS 3.1 source code leak - official statement

[WolfToTheMoon]

I wonder how far along they got with the PA-RISC stuff?  Like version 1.0 of the OS or some schematics on the board etc...

AFAIK, Ed Helper was working on a custom version of PA-RISC 7150 for Hombre.

According to Haynie, no code was ever written, they considered licensing OpenGL for successor of CD32 and even considered Windows NT.

Haynie worked on Acutiator architecture which would be basis for future desktop Amigas and was flexible for both 680x0 and PA-RISC chips. No more Zorro, it would have PCI

[Linde]

By the time I got to "the fanatical Amiga owners are an embarrassment to Commodore" I was hoping this guy got hit by a bus.  

Something a typical non-fanatic non-embarrassment would say when someone insults their favorite brand?

[NorthWay]

If they went PA-RISC and had software, the masses would have followed, I know I would have.

IBM Mainframe with MVS/zOS
PC with DOS/Windows

The masses voted with their wallets; software is too valuable to trash your system.
No new system (excluding game consoles and phones) has been successfully introduced in competition with the existing the past 25(30?) years. Even the Mac has kept compatibility in its many incarnations.

The trouble with introducing a new system is that you reset everything. Your old customers will not only be evaluating your new system, they will be comparing it to your competitors without giving you any inherent benefit. As happens in the game console market where they seem to be syncing releases with each other - customers have even less reason to be loyal or wait out in such a situation.

[TheMagicM]

AFAIK, Ed Helper was working on a custom version of PA-RISC 7150 for Hombre.

According to Haynie, no code was ever written, they considered licensing OpenGL for successor of CD32 and even considered Windows NT.

Haynie worked on Acutiator architecture which would be basis for future desktop Amigas and was flexible for both 680x0 and PA-RISC chips. No more Zorro, it would have PCI

I read the pdf and then googled some of the stuff they wanted to base the OS on (functionality wise/looks etc) and then the VAR type interface and they seemed like good ideas.  

It would be cool to read more stuff like this..more internal docs etc.

[Kremlar]

Were they smoking something really good, or did they believe the ghost of Jack was walking the halls at C=? By that time I would have hoped they had realized you can't just do like in old times and scrap what you had and bung out something new and incompatible. Why would a loyal Amiga owner want a totally incompatible PA-RISC thing? Starting from scratch with 0 installed userbase is next to nuts.
That washing-off-hands at AAA also makes me scratch my head.

It would have had to be a huge jump to attract the user base, much like it was going from the C64 to Amiga.

I find it odd that AAA had no backwards compatibility with AGA, but I knew that already.

What amazed me was the constant reference to the CD32 as Commodore's most strategically important product.
And the idea of a modular CD32 (main cartridge based unit with CD addon) just shows they had no idea what they were doing at that point in time...

The sad part is they were right.  By that time they had lost a large chunk of their user base (me included) and were running on fumes.  They were considerably behind the market in the features that made the Amiga what it was (graphics and sound).  As much as I would have liked to see them push forward with an Amiga 5000 / AAA system, the reality is they didn't have it in them.  Their best hope of survival would be success with the CD32.

I'm confused - AFAIK, hyperion has a license to the 3.1 sourcecode - not to internal strategy papers made by commodore employees?

LOL, +1!

The trouble with introducing a new system is that you reset everything. Your old customers will not only be evaluating your new system, they will be comparing it to your competitors without giving you any inherent benefit. As happens in the game console market where they seem to be syncing releases with each other - customers have even less reason to be loyal or wait out in such a situation.

I think you're wrong.  There is brand loyalty.  Some may deviate, but happy Amiga users would look long and hard at C='s next product and if it's competitive most would favor the familiar brand.

[mingle]

I agree... They've been flogging a dead horse/picking over a long-dead carcass for far too long.

They keep up a facade of being a powerful international corporation, with their finger on the pulse of modern technology and their ultimate goal of bring a "superior" OS to the masses... :-)

I'd like to see them follow through with their rhetoric and actually take someone to court over this. But of course, like their dreams for the future, it'll never happen...

Just my $0.02... Happy New Year everyone....

Mike.

I thought the post was an average internet troll, but now I see it seems it was Hyperion trolling Amiga users. They are deluding themselves into thinking they add value to the 68k usersbase and that users somehow must be thankful about that.

Anyway, I see this as really great news:

Hyperion will once again (and hopefully now for good) face bankrupcy for persuing copyright infringement on AmigaOS 3.1 sourcecode. This will certainly be a nice coffin nail for them. A more than 20 years old operating system beating their ass.

It is absurdly ridiculuos, but fun nontheless.

[Markus_Bieler]

What amazed me was the constant reference to the CD32 as Commodore's most strategically important product.
And the idea of a modular CD32 (main cartridge based unit with CD addon) just shows they had no idea what they were doing at that point in time...

The CD32 was a big seller here in europe, but because of the legal dispute about the CD32 in the USA, C= couldn't sell it there. They feared a too big fine.

Markus

[TheMagicM]

Download link is not working.. here is another:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=09338328132270502003

[cgutjahr]

Download link is not working..

There might be a very official reason it's not working. As terminilis and I tried to point out earlier, Hyperion has a "object and source code license for Amiga OS 3.1" and nothing else. It's hard to see how they could give eliyahu a license to distribute this document.

The real copyright owner might not want to have his property floating around the net with a big red "this belongs to hyperion, thanks for permission to distribute it" disclaimer on top of every page.

[eliyahu]

@cgutjahr

i took it down while the copyright notice is clarified. i didn't get a take-down request or anything, but until the exact text is settled, i didn't feel right about keeping the document up. both cloanto and hyperion have been terrific and very friendly; i wish i could say the same about some of their detractors.

as soon as i repost, i'll let folks know.

-- eliyahu

[TheMagicM]

i didn't feel right about keeping the document up=

uhh..oops :-)

well..its been uploaded.  LOL

[TheMagicM]

There might be a very official reason it's not working. As terminilis and I tried to point out earlier, Hyperion has a "object and source code license for Amiga OS 3.1" and nothing else. It's hard to see how they could give eliyahu a license to distribute this document.

The real copyright owner might not want to have his property floating around the net with a big red "this belongs to hyperion, thanks for permission to distribute it" disclaimer on top of every page.

yea....I guess you dont know what I'm talking about.   The "future options" pdf is what I'm talking about.  As far as 3.1 source..Its still available via a google search.

[cgutjahr]

yea....I guess you dont know what I'm talking about.   The "future options" pdf is what I'm talking about.

Yes, and it's probably (c) Cloanto, not Hyperion. Which is why Cloanto might not appreciate that it's being distributed it with a big "(c) Hyperion" disclaimer on top of every page.

Which is why Eliyahu took it down again until the issue is cleared up.

I'd draw you a picture, but I'm really not much of an artist...

[TheMagicM]

I'd draw you a picture, but I'm really not much of an artist...

...and I wouldn't even bother looking at it.

[blakespot]

Sega didn't see 3D coming, they correct it with the Dreamcast but they choose PowerVR over 3DFX that EA wanted, so no EA games...
Kamelito

PowerVR's getting some pretty admirable use today.


bp

[blakespot]

You have to remember, CD32(and A1200, basically same systems) were selling like crazy on most important Amiga markets in Europe at the time - and with a further 100$ price cut would continue to sell even with next gen consoles coming.

PA-RISC, especially 2.0 version(64 bit, MAX-2 SIMD extensions, 32 bit options also had earlier MAX-1 SIMD in 7100LC and 7300LC CPUs ) was a helleuva CPU, compared even with fastest PPC, Pentium Pro, Alpha and MIPS CPUs - too bad it was not meant to be.

Was the PA-RISC to be the core CPU or to be a slave handling graphics. I read it as the latter, years ago -- but I may be mistaken.

I do know the 7100LC in my HP-9000 712/100 lets me run NeXTSTEP with performance that runs rings around my NeXTstation Turbo Color (33MHz '040). Some media on that, if quick and dirty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MVnKRT3jw0&feature=youtu.be

HP: https://vine.co/v/iaaY7H5Bij3

NeXTstation: https://vine.co/v/iaaVK7n0bbD


bp