Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Software Issues and Discussion => Topic started by: Lorraine on November 02, 2008, 08:29:05 PM
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I believe MOS has some pretty good support for Amiga applications, AOS4... not so great, AROS for the moment seems all over the place, though it should be noted that AROS code can be found in AOS from 3.5 onwards.
The problem with dropping support for legacy code is that it can be argued that Amiga's sole asset at this point is it's software library.
Without it, it's just another ultra niche OS with poor to no hardware support and naff all else.
The problem is that the way AmigaOS was made, is that it simply cannot be brought up to date without (for all intents and purposes) a completely clean slate at this point. I've read several times on here recently from people with far greater understanding of this then I, that the AmigaOS as we knew it was pretty much end of life by the time that Commodore (or possibly Escom, though that's pushing it) closed it's doors.
Love it for what it is: A great little OS that does wonders with very few resources.
The idea of AmigaOS as being in a position to take over the world or even become a major player at this point died a long, long time ago.
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OS 4 and MorphOS use graphics cards and their hardware acceleration is accessible through OpenGL subsets for 3d as well as through the traditional OS function calls for 2d. As you might expect, hardware banging code only runs on the EUAE emulator on those platforms and requires a Kickstart 3.1 or older ROM image to run the respective software vintages.
Right now I'm trying to make a runtime library for a new AmosPro compiler that is in the works. It's called Mattathias and you can join our mailing list here (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/mattathias/) and post on there if you have interest in it. For now, suffice it to say that it will eventually compile old AmosPro codes to run on OS 4, MorphOS and others.
Also, as a continuation of the Classic Amiga hardware, you might want to check out the Natami web site (http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php) whose prototype is due to be ready for testing any day now.
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Lorraine wrote:
Oh? The Kickstart images are necessary for OS4 backwards compatibility?
Hmm.. I assumed because the Kickstarts were considered part of the OS on classic that OS4 would compensate for that somehow with code.
Most system friendly software (ie. Applications, not Games) will run on OS4.x or MorphOS without needing Kickstart images. However, if you want to play old games or demo on the above systems, you need to use a "Classic Amiga" emulator such as EUAE. In that case, you will need the same kinds of things UAE needs on other systems (like appropriate Kickstart ROM images, etc).