So how is MorphOS?

[runequester]

mini mac g4s arent super expensive which got me wondering... how is Morph OS?

other than that slick old amiga feeling, what I would use it for is pretty basic, some word processing, basic web browsing, playing some old games (presumably I'd need emulation for 68k amiga stuff right?) and similar. A casual machine to mess around with for fun.

So..sell me on it.. I guess

Whats the cool parts?

Which parts suck ?

What does it do that OS4 doesn't?

[amiga92570]

mini mac g4s arent super expensive which got me wondering... how is Morph OS?


What does it do that OS4 doesn't?

It runs on newer hardware!

[SamuraiCrow]

It runs on newer hardware!

Ummm... no.   It runs WarpOS games better than OS 4.

[Kronos]

Well it's free to try (if you got the HW that is).
It's fast enough to run UAE at full speed without having to tune down emulation-details.
It has the best and most compatible webbrowser of all Amigaoid OSes.
It has Ambient, the most advanced Workbench(replacement) of all Amigaoid OSes.
It has Poseidon the definite benchmark for all things USB in Amiga-land.
3D-support is also unrivaled.
68k WarpOS and PowerUP emus (for older systemfriendly apps) is a winner in speed compability and stability.
MUI4 is every Amigas-Devs wet dream (o.k. I might be a bit over the top with that one ).
Printing is done via TurboPrint, unrivaled in quality if you got a supported printer (something that understands either PCL or PostScript should do the trick).

Plenty more, but it's 6 o'clock right here.

[runequester]

Well it's free to try (if you got the HW that is).
It's fast enough to run UAE at full speed without having to tune down emulation-details.
It has the best and most compatible webbrowser of all Amigaoid OSes.
It has Ambient, the most advanced Workbench(replacement) of all Amigaoid OSes.
It has Poseidon the definite benchmark for all things USB in Amiga-land.
3D-support is also unrivaled.
68k WarpOS and PowerUP emus (for older systemfriendly apps) is a winner in speed compability and stability.
MUI4 is every Amigas-Devs wet dream (o.k. I might be a bit over the top with that one ).
Printing is done via TurboPrint, unrivaled in quality if you got a supported printer (something that understands either PCL or PostScript should do the trick).

Plenty more, but it's 6 o'clock right here.

well, that doesn't sound half bad

Time to dig on ebay and craigs list for some hardware then

[iCreate]

Is MorphOS still being developed?

[Kronos]

Hmm, lets see:

Support for G4 PowerMacs and eMac announced for MorphOS2.5.
Videos uploaded showing an expermental branch working on Powerbook.
The guys listed in MorphOS->about allmost constantly online in #morphos

See no reason why it shouldn't still being developed

[Matt_H]

Hmm, lets see:

Support for G4 PowerMacs and eMac announced for MorphOS2.5.
Videos uploaded showing an expermental branch working on Powerbook.
The guys listed in MorphOS->about allmost constantly online in #morphos

See no reason why it shouldn't still being developed

Short answer: Yes, it is in active development.

MorphOS is great. Very fast, very stable, very compatible, excellent native programs (ShowGirls, OWB, MPlayer, etc.).

[runequester]

The main things Im needing are:

Some sort of word processor, PDF creation is a bonus but not required

Web browsing obviously

some sort of chat client, preferably including MSN, AIM and gchat, if possible

MP3 player. Bonus points if it can play .ogg and mod files as well

UAE in some form or fashion

If there's a decent graphics / paint program thats a bonus (and if all else fails, there's Deluxe Paint 4 in UAE I guess)


How does it do with the above?

[Kronos]

Word processor: The old 68k-apps should work (FinalWriter,Wordworth, ??), some even reported running webbased apps in OWB.

Webbrowser : OWB, what else ?

Chat: Everything but IRC is ........ nah I didn't say that

MP3: AminetRadio is the obvious choice atm

E-UAE is quite o.k.

ArtEffect, ImageFX, fxPaint and more do run, some even semi-native (read they contain PPC-code).

[runequester]

e-uae is what I use on my linux box so that'll do fine.

I guess I'll have to see about digging up a working copy of Final writer huh

Now.. I've heard different things about morph and 68K apps. For things that boot through workbench, rather than hit hardware directly, will they run natively, or is it still emulation time for those?

[Rebel-CD32]

Once I saw how configurable MorphOS was, I was sold on it. It can basically be configured to act the same as any other OS out there, making it much easier for people to move to and feel comfortable with.

[Kronos]

Offcourse they can't really run natively, their 68k afterall

But in reality they will run in MorphOS's own 68k-EMU several times faster than UAE, and when the call OS-function these functions are PPC too.

As an example, back in 2002 when I got my Peg1 (and MorphOS1.0) I had some trouble with native version of YAM. So I just installed an 68k-version and stayed with it. Dragged it over to the Peg2 and later to the MacMini, and I see no reason to replace it with a PPC-version. Not because these would be buggy compared to the 68k-builds, just because I see no point in changing a working system. Speedwise it would probraly make such a small difference that it's hardly noticed.

[fishy_fiz]

In short its the most mature, fastest (in terms of efficiency, cant compete with aros when aros is running on machines much, much faster obviously), most compatible "NG" amiga OS around. The only things to bear in mind is that it is an amiga os based system and therefore is lacking software wise compared to more mainstream oses, (although that's always the case with alternative systems and unless you have very specific needs shouldnt be a big problem), and that even on the fastest hardware it has available wont run a lot of demanding aga stuff very well using euae (no jit cpu emulator for ppc and not a problem with mos)

[pVC]

The main things Im needing are:

Some sort of word processor, PDF creation is a bonus but not required

Unfortunately there aren't good native word processors yet (Papyrys wasn't that good apparently), but good old word processors from Amiga do work fine. At least Pagestream can save to PDF.

Web browsing obviously

MorphOS version of OWB is really good, but also IBrowse and other old Amiga browsers work fine if you're used to them and want to experince some real speed

some sort of chat client, preferably including MSN, AIM and gchat, if possible

There are some programs for those... but I can't remember the names just now. IRC FTW AmIRC (there's MorphOS native version with some fixes since 68k versions) and WookieChat are good IRC clients.

MP3 player. Bonus points if it can play .ogg and mod files as well

AmiNetRadio for the modern bloat (plays lots of formats including mp3, ogg, mod, ahx, hvl etc) and SongPlayer, AMPlifier, AmigaAMP etc for traditional mp3/ogg playing. UADE for precise mod and other Amiga format playing.

UAE in some form or fashion

There's E-UAE ports and MorphOS runs system friendly 68k software transparently with its own Trance emulator.

If there's a decent graphics / paint program thats a bonus (and if all else fails, there's Deluxe Paint 4 in UAE I guess)

MorphOS has ShowGirls, which is excellent image viewer and processor. It's especially designed to process digital photos. MorphOS also includes Sketch, which is basic, but pretty modern painting program.

Most of the Amiga's graphic programs work too. I keep using ArtEffect, PPaint and FXPaint2 regularly, but for example ImageFX, Photogenics, Elastic/Fantastic Dreams and TV-Paint do work too.

You can check MorphOS 2 review for more detailed information about the system and included programs