Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Samuar on September 30, 2003, 12:22:00 PM
-
Firstly, I'm not putting anyone down for using old Amigas, nor am I anti-Amiga. However, I was talking to my friend regarding the amiga community, and he was curious to know exactly why people still use their amiga over more modern (sometimes even cheaper) solutions/systems.
So, what are your reasons?
-
I don't, there is no reason for me to do that anymore. It's in my closet.
-
fun.
-
Because the system is very responsive and is fun to use everytime I put it on after I shutdown my 3GHZ Pentium system.
-
Genlock mostly for my job.
PC genlocks dont have the same quality unless you put your hand deep into your pocket...
Besides my amigas crash once a month and my pcs once a day :-D
-
Thats a great question! I have to say for me, its because my Amiga does what just about any thing that Windows can do, sure its not super fast. Things made for it though run great. I like the memories of better times. These were times when code was optimised to run on low spec systems, and it did awsome stuff. Its just plain fun too. It works, nevr crashes, and does everything I need it to do.
I also have a high spec PC to do all the oter (mind you a few) things I cant do well on the Amiga.
-
because Pc's ARE useless Crap.!
because there is no proper alternatives (beos died .... (bebox anyway)
people who pop up and say we have alternatives now , if you do...wake up! there is NONE!...
/me hugs his AMIGA!
-
A very good question!
Because its different perhaps, because of nostalgia, and I'd hazard for many users the reason would also be that certain applications are not available on any other platform.
I must confess tho', when I look through what people are selling on ebay or through Computer Shopper etc, I am amazed at how cheap it is to build a PC.
As I pointed out the other day, someone paid 330 UKP/ 500 USD for a Cyberstorm PPC card - at these kinds of level of cost, it does make you wonder why they just don't buy a PC...
-
lempkee wrote:
because Pc's ARE useless Crap.!
What a pontless and stupid statement.
In what way is a modern, sub £1000, 3Ghz, Win2K/*nix PC "useless crap"?
-
bloodline wrote:
In what way is a modern, sub £1000, 3Ghz, Win2K/*nix PC "useless crap"?
In that it's not an amiga, no matter how much emulation you use - Lempkee's a demo coder after all, youv'e got to expect a degree of fanatacism :-)
-
bloodline wrote:
lempkee wrote:
because Pc's ARE useless Crap.!
What a pontless and stupid statement.
In what way is a modern, sub £1000, 3Ghz, Win2K/*nix PC "useless crap"?
Exactly! I'll tell you what:
I couldn't live (work) without my Windows PC machine!
I could live without my Pegasos, but I wouldn't *want to*!
Notice the difference? ;-)
(And the classic is in the closet, I'm keeping it only for nostalgic reasons now)
-
Whenever I want to do some animation, or sequence some music, it's much easier to do these things with PPaint and OctaMED Soundstudio than anything on the PC (although for recording organic audio projects I use Cakewalk.) (Edit: or my trusty TEAC 4-track ;-))
But my main machine is an x86 box. As people have pointed out, they can't be beaten on price. For about £500 I got an Athlon system that runs apps nice and quick, (and in terms of 3D performance it pisses on the current video consoles from a great height.) And AROS just flies :-D
-
I'm using my Amiga for almost everything...
The reason?
It's reliable!
I does what I'm telling it to do... Nothing else... Take the good old windows for an eksample... Why does it comunicate with the internet when you do nothing on it? -No explore is open, -nothing... Why?
These small things does that I'm staying with my miggy, I know and trust the Amiga Computer like no other platform...
-
Karlos wrote:
bloodline wrote:
In what way is a modern, sub £1000, 3Ghz, Win2K/*nix PC "useless crap"?
In that it's not an amiga, no matter how much emulation you use - Lempkee's a demo coder after all, youv'e got to expect a degree of fanatacism :-)
Sure I certainly miss hitting the hardware of the Amiga Chipset (those were fun days), but The raw power avaiable to the coder now is fantastic. I can do things now that I could only dream of 10 years ago!!!
-
Samuar wrote:
..., and he was curious to know exactly why people still use their amiga over more modern (sometimes even cheaper) solutions/systems.
So, what are your reasons?
My Amigas are much more quick and responsive at the user interface level than Win-DOHS could ever hope to be. Plus, my web site runs on my A4000T, which is turned on 24x7.
-
Because it's the only machine which I've been able to use OctaMED on reliably.
-
I think if it wasnt for octamed I would have quit using it ages ago. Now im online so i#ve got another use for it. Aprt from that, i got a couple of games I still play, and use it as an mp3/cd player etc. Oh yeah and a tv too. Cant quite put my finger on why I like the os, but windows makes me annoyed, and amigaos doesn't- end of story
-
Toaster/flyer
Can't afford anything similar on the PC. The Amiga is too slow at everything else.
Stew
-
It's that beautiful lady inside, Paula. Ever so perfect for industrial and techno music. And our lovely miss Paula has a lot of great software to take advantage of her voice! :-D
-
Because i like my amigas and have much better software for it than i do the pc.I also like to listen to sound mods from aminet cd,s. and os 3.9 is much more easyier to use than windows. :-o
-
I use it when my PC stresses me out. Hahaha! Its in bits at the mo, so virtually nothing.
a1200 - apps
a500 - games.
pc - door stop. (and internet).
-
> Why do you still use your old Amiga?
Because there arn't any new ones.
-
Thats the best answer ever posted! :-D
-
Because it is easy and fun to use.
The Amiga is my hobby machine. There are some games I like to play on the Amiga.
Mostly I use it for programming in ARexx, AmigaDOS scripts and AmigaVision.
I also like to use the "Write" program from the Amiga Appetizer package, FinalWriter97, and MicroFiche Filer.
However, I don't use it for browsing the internet much anymore, because I have a pc with an ADSL connection.
My Amiga uses a dialup connection over a 14.4Kbps modem. It gets the job done, but seems very slow by comparison .... yawn.
---------------
redfox
-
Because they don't make computers like they use to.
Amiga could do alot more than anything during its day.
-
Bloodline wrote:
In what way is a modern, sub £1000, 3Ghz, Win2K/*nix PC "useless crap"?
Not useless, but hardly as fun to use as an Amiga is. I have the benefit of experience.
-
The spirit of the AmigaOS...
I'm using MsWindows daily in my work...so fed up with it...
-
In what way is a modern, sub £1000, 3Ghz, Win2K/*nix PC "useless crap"?
Try for example doing a small task like reading/writing from/to a floppy disk... What happens then? the whole system slows down! Now go try the same thing on a classic amiga. :-)
a x86 is generally less reliable too.
not totally useless though.
-
HI ACILL:
I AM NEW AT THIS AMIGA THING, HAVN'T USED MINE FOR A LONG TIME.
WAS WONDERING, I AM THINKING OF BUYING FROM ELBOX, BUT DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM, I SEE U HAVE SOMETHING FROM THEM AND WANTED UR OPONION. ARE THEY A GOOD COMPANY TO DO BUSINESS WITH?
THE THING I WANT IS THE ATA HARD DRIVE CONTROLLER, $90.00. THATS A LOT FOR A CONTROLLER BUT IF IT WORKS THEN IT IS WORTH IT.
WOULD U LET ME KNOW WHAT U THINK?
BJ-BILL
-
Well, these plataforms, can be faster but cant be better than ours.
They will never be an AMiGA.
Amiga is fun to use, my sistem is fast and the soft is great. I dont need a Ghz order cpu, for wasting it with Windows or Linux.Thats crap!,and my 1200 is beautiful.
If we get the subject expanded to the pegasos -as an amiga like system- is very cheap, and far away stable and faster any nasty peecee you can buy.
AMiGa, and the likes, ROOLZ -Its so simply-
-
My reason is simple... I'm having fun in front of my Amigas, contrar to Windohs systems I hardly ever find myself saying "what are it doing now" or "how am I suppose to do that". C64 and Amiga was the first computers i got in contact with and I still find them more userfriendly and forgiving and they also have a special place in my heart.
Most of us know the classic amigas can't do all that the PC can do today but we don't expect it to either and even when we do we know it's just a fantasy but it's ours damnit! A PC however can never give me the pleasure the Amiga and it's comunity can (and the Amiga comunity is much stronger now than it ever was since most of the nonebelivers are gone leaving a diehard core left). :-D
Another aspect that I've come across in my later years is modding and hardhacks and there the Amiga hardware is so much more forgiving and as it's been around for so long there are numerous homemade hardware to find online that is fun to tinker with yourself. :-)
-
for me its a trust issue you see, like i'll trust my old amigas to run quite steady with out hardly err problem, unless of course i try to force software of some weird sort that it just refuses to accept and this i understand and can fix. and its fun and everythings in nice little places where i know where it is and others...
-
bj-bill
Why not post your question as a new thread in the Hardware Discussions Forum, you'll get more reactions there :-)
-
As someone else said the Video Toaster & Flyer are one reason.
But I've also got 12 years building up skills with DPaint, AdPro, ImageFX and other programs that allow me to surprise people with signs, banners and other artwork that doesn't have that horrible cookie cutter look that Print Shop and many other PC programs inflict on other users.
-
I hate my PC. It crashes several times per day, and it runs Windows - one of the greatest travesties to ever appear out of the labs of Redmond, Washington.
My Amiga is a joy to use. MP3 playback never skips, the system is responsive, and I enjoy having comprehensible manual control at my fingertips. Plus it's immune to all mainstream viruses. I can just laugh when IT sends out a virus alert voicemail.
Most importantly, the Amiga has character. I smile when I use my Amiga, and cringe when I have to use my PC.
-
Here's the short list
It boots in 11 seconds
I can push the power buttom off any time with out trashing software
I can cruise the internet with being bombed with spam, spyware, popups, virus'.......
It can do all the basics any pc can, mail, word processing, graphics....
And though it's not perfect, over the years it has been much more crash proof than windows.
New hardware is kind of expensive, but used stuff is available and cheaper.
And we're just waiting untill we get our "new amiga"
(AmigaOne ,UEA Pegasos....)
Plaz
-
yeah, using a Amiga just feels different.. I feel very ill every time my windoze pc crashes or that i have to reboot it for some reason... i get so frustrated when sitting there waiting for the OS/applications to fully load.
Anyone ever noticed how for example win2k/xp just locks up if you have too many programs starting up at once?? If you have so so many programs in startup, you might actually end up having it locking up during start up!! That is multitasking for ya!
Shutting it down is sometimes a pain also....
-
AND CAN U PLAY QUACK ON IT.
-
Because there arn't any new ones
So what is the amigaone then. :-?
-
@amigamad
An overpriced linux-box ? :-P
-
Why are all the new dudes writing with CAPS-LOCK :-?
@redfox
You could hook your Amiga on the ADSL too you know :-o
-
fleg wrote:
AND CAN U PLAY QUACK ON IT.
:-P :-P :-P
-
amigamad wrote:
Because there arn't any new ones
So what is the amigaone then. :-?
A computer that runs PPC linux.
I don't have anything against linux, but I'm already running Gentoo on an Athlon XP 3200/400 NForce2 ATI Radeon 9800, and don't need another linux machine.
The current AmigaOne does nothing but depreciate untill the OS is finished, I would never even think of buying hardware in advance.
Untill AOS4 is released, an AmigaOne is simply not a reasonable purchase.
-
fleg wrote:
AND CAN U PLAY QUACK ON IT.
Wasn't Quack some old CD32 game??? :-P
-
> Why do you still use your old Amiga?
Because I want to.
Just like ppl -want- to have sex.
-
I love using my Amiga for the nostalgia, it brings back good memories. I like loading up the old games etc.
But a number of you guys make it sound like a cult; you believe in half truths and choose to ignore the Amiga’s limitations.
Amiga hardware is still expensive, its performance to cost ratio is huge.
The Amiga crashes more than my PC, and I use my PC for about ooh lets say 10-12 hours a day. While I only use my Amiga for perhaps a hour at a time. Or do guru meditation errors not count?
This is just my opinion, and now I wait to be flamed or even excommunicated.
-
tbh i never really liked a system which takes over your life like windows does , it makes you lazy itself is lazy and you are doomed to upgrade if you wanna be in the loop.
beyond that i seriously think that you dont need 3ghz just to have some fun, and beyond that i love oldschool and good games, sure i agree some new stuff is cool but too hyped , i have a ps2 and other consoles for my game needs but seriously i always return to my amiga for a classic game instead.
for people who must use a pc for work , ever heard of dont bring your work home ? , if you work in your own house ...ever heard of CURFUES? :) , so many lame excuses for using a pc and so many good points to take it down :)
but i agree , if people want brand new games and really blazing fast fps games...go for a pc , if you want bloated software go for a pc , but i am like this.. i use the fuctions in a tool i know how to .. the rest stays in the dark until someone shows me (photshop 7.0 anyone ? :) ..
sure i agree its good to have the options but for my usage i dont see why, all i need is to have fun, and fun is the reason why i am still messing with computers..
i am one of thoose weirdo's who still play slamtilt for days in and out, deluxe galaga also... i am too old maybe and not interested in super high benchmarks on a slow and dull os, you guys gotta agree on this eh ?..
imagine what a morphos or amigaos would be able to do on a 3ghz cpu with 8x agp? , have you guys actually bothered to look under the hood ? , check the demoscene...i can't say i am impressed.
ok...i know..i might sound like some oldschoolers from the c64 times when amiga was new but i think this time its actually a problem which it wasnt back then, both pc's and amiga's are useable tools for the desired customer/user , but if we changed the specs with each others one of em would have been long gone and totally dead!
i have said it before and i will say it again , there is no future in the "current" x86 setups, they age and they die and there is nothing to make people jump back....or is there? ..
i wonder how many users actually think...I WISH i was on a win95 setup with 32mb ram... and not like they are saying now..i wish i had 5ghz and 24x agp and 2terrabyte of ram.
but as i said...maybe i am too old to follow.. :D
people move to linux because they are sick of windows and need something new.... i can agree with em on that...
people choose pegasos over their classic amigas , i can agree with em on that.
but what i can't agree with people on is.. upgrade and upgrde and upgrade and still use a dull and slow os which actually aint that slow on a 3ghz cpu anymore but thats because the turbo is 500 times bigger than the actual turtle :)
ok...this got a tad long...
cheers
-
oh and.. i know all systems more or less ,
i was an system admin for 3 years (pc,mac,linux and sun) (and 1 amiga :D) .
so i know from experience + that is one of the reasons why i was away for 2+ years on the internet , it made me loose all interests ...
so i quitted the job...and i got back on my amiga 100% and it took me about 2 months to say...OK i wanna go back to what i once did...Beeing 100% amiga and enjoying it...
that was 28 months ago...
-
My A3000T runs everyday as normal working machine.
It's fully equipped with no more slots available.
Well it's my Router for my A1 G4XE, A3000, iMAC and my Wife's PC.
The main reason for using my A3000T as router is that ADSL isn't any
faster on the PC, in fact it's even slower!!!!
My A3000T FTPs 30KB/sec whereas the PC only runs at 25 KB/sec when
it's online over the same DSL line without the Amiga as router.
The iMAC transfers at 28 KB/sec and the A1 via the the A30000T router
runs at 35 KB/sec.
Second all my emails are checked with A3000T, NO PC WIN virus can
harm it!!!!
It needs less power to run and boots faster.
Lately a thunderstorm did cut the power current.
And guess which computer restarted completely? Yes the A3000T
The iMAC didn't switch on, the A1 rebooted to the user prompt and the
PC had to check it's HD after I had to switch it on and off 10 times
to even know that there's power again.
Oh yes Pagesstream runs everyday on my A3000T, in fact I also earned
money with Pagestream.
And I use GoldEd to programm in HTML.
I can't wait to get AOS4 to exchange my A3000T for the A1.
On the other hand the OS reacts when you do click the mouse.
I can't say that of Linux nor MAC OS X nor Windows.
If I can get a cheap 68030 card for my A600 I will try to use it as
router :-)
Why? Well it just consumes 20 WATTs of power.
So I can run it day and night. :-)
bye
Manou
-
I like the feeling of being in control, When
I use my Amiga I understand what's going on
under the hood. Keeping it simple, lightweight,
speed.
-
Hi. I´m new here! This is my first post! :-)
I have not owned an Amiga since a long time! But I have seen the Amiga One Lite announced on many sites and that one looks interesting!
I had a A500+ once uppon a time. I even got a Hard Drive for it, it was ridiculously small and expensive by todays standards, but was I the hero of the neighbourhood or what? ;-) :-D
What I liked with it was the graphics and the sound. And the many games of course.
-
For so many reasons!
Despite owning a PS2 and a 2.4Ghz PC, I love the simplistic approach of the Amiga's OS and the fact that it is so very responsive. Not only that, the OS has a very small footprint and there's no extraneous features that I'll never use. Beleive it or not, web browsing on my 40Mhz Amiga is faster than on my PC.
I'm not necessarily anti PC or PS2, otherwise I wouldn't own them but there are so many things about the Amiga that still make it a very nice machine to use.
-
LP wrote:
You could hook your Amiga on the ADSL too you know
Good point. I've got room in my A2000HD. I should get an ethernet card and give it a try.
Especially after I read how mbilla uses his A3000T as a router for his A1 G4XE, A3000, iMAC and his wife's PC, and can also do other stuff as well.
Thanks,
redfox
-
You know, this also amazes me.
I have often wondered why I continue to use such a slow and old PC.
3 reasons that come to mind.
1.) An amazing multitasking ability and controll WOW.
2.) No need to shut it down, just turn it off.
3.) What a fantastic way of setting out an OS. I WISH it was like Microsoft now is (with less evilness of course)
What do I want from a computer? I want it to be like an AMIGA but with newer H/W. The only thing I dislike about the AMIGA at the moment is it's very slow, no colours and 3rd party hacks as far as the eye can see to keep it running.
If AI really does get AMIGA OS4 out on a standard fast HW platform and it does multitask like the classic, I will be like Neil A landing on the moon.
-
Thanks guys and gals for all your responses. I hope everyone else found them to be an interesting read. Hopefully others will contribute too.
It also seems discussing these things have given others ideas for what is possible with their own, current Amigas - like connecting them straight upto the ADSL.
Once again, many thanks...
Sam Holland (Samuar)
-
Same reason I still use my C64 (which is on the same desk with my Athlon 1800, A3000, and A500)... Pure nostalgia. There's nothing like booting and playing a game of Lemmings or Leander on the original format!
I've just recently returned to the Amiga world after finding a very cheap 3000 system (my dream system from back in the day). It's just been fun to play with it and re-learn how things work and see the current state of things. It's almost like the Amiga still has a soul while the pc world is just all business and no fun. I've built countless Athlon and Intel systems with all the latest toys, but just putting a Picasso II and Cybergraphx in my 3000 was the most fun I've had doing installs in a long time!
Bottom line, it's just fun!
98PaceCar
-
Like most things, updates and newer models become available. The same question can be put forth to a person who drives a 15 year old car and not one of the latest models available. Why would a person do this? Perhaps the fact that they know the older cars inside and out and it suits their needs.
I look at my Amiga the same way. I own an A4000T, Cyberstorm MKIII 060 66Mhz, CybervisionPPC and running SCSI drives. This system does everything I want it to do. I can play the majority of the newer Amiga games on it such as Freespace, QuakeII and Payback. I enjoy listening to MP3s on it, and general internet use like amirc.
I also own a PIII that I use for the net also. I do play a few of the latest 3d games on it, but nothing constantly. I guess I love my Amiga more because I purchased everything and built it up to what it is today. I know it well and everytime I boot it up, within 7 seconds from the HD read, I am looking at my OS3.9 screen as apposed to my PC which takes alot longer to boot.
The Amiga brings back fond memories of the first time I got my A500 and the friends I made through the same interests. It reminds me of a time when everything seemed to make more sense and software really had value and a sense of effort and thought put into it. I have fine tuned my A4000T and I cannot remember the last time I had a crash on it. As apposed to my pc that freezes alot using Win98.
Overall my Amiga stands for something unique. Whereas my pc just simply is an appliance that 90% of households have. Sure I have fun on the pc, but nothing near the fun I have on the Amiga. The Amiga stands for a system that has endured the constant degrading comments and loss of support over the years, and here we are, still using a machine that dates back to the days of the 286.
My question is this, to all of you out there, do you feel that these days there seems to be more of a direction towards commonality? It seems everyone is using PC, all using Windows, all playing the same games, all using the net. It is just like an appliance, everyone using their tv to do the same thing. You ask an Amiga owner what they use their Amiga for and you will get some interesting results.
Why are we heading towards a future where everything is going to be the same? What happended to individuality? Does it still exist?
Why do I still use my Amiga?
Because it reminds me of a time when things were made to last, not just a sale. When you felt like you belonged to an individual group and you owned something really special. Its because I love what the Amiga stands for and the sense of goodness I get everytime I turn it on. It does exactly what I want it to do and it fun using it.
-
This thread has really got me thinking. As soon as I have the cash, forget that drumkit I wanted, I'm gonna get a damn good miggy on this desk! :-)
-
Lately a thunderstorm did cut the power current.
just a tip... Allways unplug your computers when there is a thunderstorm!! I talk from personal experience ;-)
Last year, there was a bad thunderstorm, i did not unplug any of my equipment.. But anyway, we lost my dads compaq pIII 450, one monitor, hub had actually started to melt and did not work anymore and my 28 inch widescreen tv got heavily damaged"turns itself off with a bang if cold"
Luckily both my linux server"450 ky-2" and my main computer survived with just a reboot.
I so regreat that i did not unplug the compuiters :-(
The compaq lived for nearly a week afterwards though, then went totally black, never got any life signs out of it again.
-
Allways unplug your computers when there is a thunderstorm!!
I'm not sure I'd go that far. If I were to, I'd unplug every electronic appliance in the house. I've had a modem fried in a thunderstorm before, that was when lightning took out a telegraph pole, and a good few phones and modems near my house. The computer was unaffected. Serial modem though.
-
What a great question to ask! For me, mostly my Amiga's (yep, that's plural) give me something that I have far to little of in life....."FUN". Sure, my PC does things faster, but at my age, faster sure ain't better. Maybe a little bit of nostalgia is nice too. Every time I use my Amiga's, I think of the time when my A1000 was state of the art, and the fun I had using it. And I really do think that AmigaOS is much more forgiving than the others are, I've always been able to recover from whatever stupid thing I've done to them when tinkering with the system. :-D :-D
-
Boy, after reading all these comments............I could not have said it better myself...........all of you inspire me to continue being an Amigan...........because I myself am a witness that most of what is said here about the Amiga is definitely true............there is Nothig like an Amiga............I have a PowerMac and 2 PC's and boy do they still suck!
You know.....it boggles my mind to realise that there are tremendouse similarities between Amigans and Christianity........like here the Amigans represent Chritianity..........and Windows represents the unrepentant world.....................The world thinks that this is the best it is going to get and just continue to lust for more power and are never satisfied. and Christianity having experienced both worlds, knows something the rest of the world doesnt know (Amiga users know this first hand that the Amiga is definitely the way it should be done, even after having used top of the line PC's and Macs).
In the Past there were many Amiga Evangelists who attempted to show the PC owning world what an Amiga can do (I myself being one) and sometimes to be put to shame by some PC users, probably because we werent ready to answer some of the questions they asked, but we continued to stick with our Amigas because we know what we attempted to demonstrate to them was true...............about this wonderfull computer Called the Amiga. Just like when the Christian world goes out to tell non believers about this salvation that is from God, that if we just simply come near to Him and see what He has to offer.......... forgiveness of all your sins! you will never want to go back!
In the same way if we could demonstrate all we know about the Amiga to a PC user in one day........that PC user will switch., Why? because we want the world to use what we use? No! but because This computer called the Amiga truly is the best platform in the world!
P.S - Ok now don't anybody go and try to establish an Amiga church..........thats goin a little to far hehe!)
Amiga............what an amazing computer!
-
I like the os and the fact i built it up to the spec it is now.It's my only machine apart from some other 1200 boards around and my game consoles,tho pegasos is something id like.
-
I use mine for a number of reasons. One, I find it to be more MY computer rather than Bill Gates idea of a computer. It's so easy to work with and change things. It doesn't have a lot of complicated nonsense that nobody needs. I mean, the PC has advantages. For instance, on a PC there are at least five ways to close a window. That's amazing! Nobody asked for that, but Bill gave us the power to close a window five different ways anyway. And so on and so on. It's easy to clean up the clutter and arrange files where you want them to be without going through uninstalls and installs and bathroomstalls and everything. On a PC, you have to do everything just so or you'll screw up the registry and blow your whole computer. If a program is automatically running on my Amiga and I don't want it to, I edit the User Startup which is really straightforward (well... with SOME practice). On a PC, I can't find where everything happens. It's scattered all over the place. I think they do that on purpose because they don't want the user dinkin' around with stuff. Like I say, my Amiga is MY computer. I got Directory Opus 5 at some point for it. I went, WOW... if I want, I can just run it into Dopus and set the whole thing to display nothing but buttons. Sure, there's no reason on God's green Earth to do that. But I can, and it's EASY. I got DOpus for the PC. I set it to be used instead of Explorer. Every once in a while, Explorer brings up a window rather than DOpus. Explorer DOES NOT LIKE TO BE REPLACED! I find everything about Windows is that way.
Also, games. I like the older games. It might be a nostalgia thing. I rarely play any of the more modern games. Ok, Mechwarrior makes me exceptionally happy. And the latest chess programs are all fancy and stuff. But I don't play a lot of games really. When I do want to play a game, I always want to play one I used to enjoy when I was younger. Or to complete an adventure game I never did before. But mostly, I think it's that the old Amiga games had GREAT graphics (I used to use a C64, so I used to think every game was a graphical masterpiece) but they weren't too complicated where you had to read a novel of an instruction manual to play them. Or even better, you actually PLAYED them as opposed to clicking on this object in the room or pushing that button on the wall but mostly just have the game tell a story to you which isn't like PLAYING a game at all.
Mostly though, I don't want to stop supporting a better machine. Can my PC do stuff that blows away my Amiga? Oh yah. No doubt. But that's not a fair comparrison because my PC is a Pentium II with Win98 and my Amiga is an A1200 with 6mb of ram. But I would laugh at any PC lover that would dare to try to compare my A1200 with ANY PC that was sold that same year the 1200 was sold. I support the better technology. Why does everybody think the PC was the greatest computer (or in many cases, they think it's the ONLY computer) ever made? Because the advertisements on Television SAY it is. Because IBM and Microsoft SUPPORT their machine and they act like they want people to actually buy it. I'm not angry with IBM or Microsoft for backing their product. I just keep hoping somebody will care about the Amiga. I'll stand behind mine. (although, I really should consider a more modern one).
(I talk too much. Sorry about that)
-
@mnoldoj_rowq
I LOVE Mech Warrior!! :)) It's the reason I purchased a PC. It was the only reason at that time. :) lol
-
Hi all,
I use a PC @ work, untill it was upgraded from P2 350mhz it was slower on the net than my Miggy, it is even on a server. Even with the upgrade to P4 1.8Ghz if I had one of these at home it would have been flying out the window long ago. NOT friendly at all this MS, umm, stuff. These machines are mostly hobby computers, not accounting. Think music & graphics, of course this adds up to good, stylish games. along with some thing that make MONEY.
Chris
-
1. Toaster/Flyer
2. Pegasos is like a very fast, smooth Amiga and runs Amiga apps.
3.Can do creative work easier with Amiga programs.
4. No registry.
5. Does only what you ask of it.
6. Has a FUN feel that windows is missing.
7. Full programs with small file sizes.
8. Has been a great OS from the beginning.
9. Unique, not made for the mass market like PC's.
10. Scares PC people into wondering why we use them. :-D
-
On the risc of being a bit dissonant...
I no longer use my old amiga because:
-I sold it
-It's not getting any younger and harder to maintain
-It's becoming too costly to upgrade
-It's just easier to get things done on more modern computers (yes, even PC's)
That being said, I have never felt the same excitement towards a PC or a Mac. That is probably partly due to the fact that a computer is more common these days but I also believe the Amiga was a very special computer in it's day.
We will have to wait and see if it ever will be again.
-
For me it's a combo of:
1) nostalgia;
2) being able to have a setup which I couldn't possibly afford back in the days;
3) simplicity of the OS.
-
fleg wrote:
AND CAN U PLAY QUACK ON IT.
I SNEAK PAST TO BUN!
I NEED FOR HELP FOR TO THE QUACK!
-
Why wouldn't we want to use Amiga's! :lol:
I love that "beautiful" lady, Paula as well. :boohoo: she's got such a lovely voice! :-)
-
I still do!
A4000T on a LAN with my *cough* *cough* pc that's needed to run my DSL modem. I use it for IRC, browsing (thank you Ibrowse!!), YAM email client and more interenet related tasks. I even hooked up a POS display (like those you've seen at supermarkets) to provide info such as the Mega Game Lottery jackpot, Homeland Security status, Caller ID numbers, MOTDs, and multiple countdown timers + text. My first fluorescent display in a black box tells me today's date & time, time online and # emails to download from my pop server.
A4000 on LAN for my programming
11 others I put to some use:
* A3000 for my music sequencer (OSS)
* A3000 for my own big millenium countdown timer with my custom LED display I built myself! (I also set other deadlines which I find it useful)
* A3000 at my brother's home to overlay captioning (title generator)
...and the rest may put some use like a classic gaming machine, use to operate my dream pinball machine I will build someday and more.
About the pinball machine: I'll try to purchase WMS' driver board that operates completely off parallel and test the timing with my stock 3000. Parallel timing can be as quick as under 10mS, am I right?
-
Well - because, untill the AmigaOne G4 XE system that I ordered back in November arrives, I've only got this A2000HD/060/64Mb PicassoII system to use. The A1200HD behind me is unexpanded so the A2000 is better specced!!
The computer that I use HAS to be a Home Computer!
I DON'T want a purely Business Computer with all its awkwardness, rebelliousness, unresponsiveness, and traitorous-nature!
Nor, a Graphics Business Computer that's gained a bloated OS!
Nor a Mecanno-Set OS Computer that tries to be as much like standard Business Computers as it can be, along with having a bloated OS tied to parameters of the past!
As you can see, Home Computers havn't been produced from 1995 to 2001/2 (roughly)!
I want a computer that doesn't argue - that can be crashed without complaint if a Web Site becomes unrully - that can be personally configuired - that is friendly, NOT just pretending to be friendly!!!
-
I have had a Amiga since 1994 and I also have a PC. The reason I use my Amiga is that I can! The Amiga is not going to be the fastest and have the latest hardware/software but it does what I need it to do. I really don't think there is anything it can't do that a PC or Mac can do. What has hurt Amiga is the software is not being developed and obviously no new computers( A1 is not Amiga its a PC).
The Amiga might be dead but it's not buried,yet. Untill it's gone I'm going to use mine. Why do we need PC's that run at 3ghz but the software being sold will run the same on a less than 1ghz system.
If micro$oft was to start writing software for the Amiga we would have a come back and maybe survive. The chances of this happening is slim to none and Amigians are their own worst enemies ;because as soon as new software comes out then the software pirates start stealing.
If you think about it every computer is dead or dying. In the computer world of Technolgy it only takes a short time for a computer to become obsolete. :-)
-
Hi,
Has anyone ever noticed that as PC clones advertise faster speeds every year, that they actually seem to run slower. I have a 2.2 Gig hertz PC clone that seems to take longer to load than my old Amiga 1000 on a floppy disk drive. When you ask it to multi task with its huge 512 meg of memory it seems to stutter. Now I would sure like to see an Amiga computer running at 2.2 Gig hertz with 512 meg of memory.
Why do I still use an Amiga, well for one I like the OS feel, I like knowing where my programs are loading into, I like knowing that there is no spy program running in the back ground, I like knowing that no one is watching at what internet sites I visit, if some one does try to sneak in I know that I can call up sysinfo and know what is exactly running on my computer.
In Other Words
I like having control of my computer and also that I can just hit the off switch without having to wait another half hour watching the OS verify the hard disk drive on the next startup.
By the way parts for the Amiga are getting cheaper every day as PC technology improve's.
Smerf
-
I have not read the others yet, so forgive any redundancies.
It is the most modern I can get in the Village.
Seriously, it has many advantages. It will not be obsolete next week. (It has been for years.) It is human friendly. I already know how to use it. I do not want all the new hardware and software that comes out. (I have most all I can use in a lifetime, much bought from ebay.) It is hobby activity. It makes me think about how to make it work to more or less like other PCs. (It amuses me to see mine do what my daughter's pentium does - just not as fast.)
You can't just be a software user with an Amiga. You have to know your hardware too. I ask my daughter about her system and usually get a "Huh?" She is a certified web master, a professional programmer and a university student. But she's all software.
-
smerf wrote:
Has anyone ever noticed that as PC clones advertise faster speeds every year, that they actually seem to run slower.... Now I would sure like to see an Amiga computer running at 2.2 Gig hertz with 512 meg of memory.
I read today that IBM actually considered using an MC68000 in the PC but decided against it... because it was "too powerful!" :-D
(Not too sure about the authenticity of that claim, but it's damn funny :-).)
-
Difficult to say why I still stick with my aging A4000... no acellerators, just the 040.
I have used Macs as well since about 1987 when we got them into the school system here in BC, Canada. I have grown up with them as well, having started with the Classic and through the LC up to the LCIII, and now with a whole Lab of iMacs, as well as a G3 Administration machine, and a G3 Server. There are 22 machines in the Lab, three in the Library, and one in each of the 30 teacher's rooms. On top of this, there are 8 Windows machines all hooked up to the LAN.
I am the administrator for the whole system. I have to fight with them on a daily basis and often have to call in the Big Guns, the school districts, at least once a week. I have printing issues daily! I have machines that refuse to print to one printer, yet will to another.... and then change their mind the next day and print on the first and NOT on the second. I have scanner issues regularly. I am called from my classroom at least three times a day by frustrated teachers who cannot get their kids on to the computer either in the Lab or in the classroom. I get at least a half dozen lockups a day, and the server freezes everyone out, including the office, at least once a week, and has to be rebooted. The techs cannot figure it out, and we have had at least 3 or four monkeying around trying to "fix things" much too often.
I use PageStream almost daily personally for worksheets. I have it on my machine at school and my Amiga at home. I transfer files via the Net. Time and time again the iMac or the Admin mahcine will NOT be able to print something... no matter whether I start from scratch at school or transfer it from home. I cannot count the number of hours I have spent up there over the last few years on weekends sorting things out!
I get home, sit down to my Amiga 4000, and except for speed of rendering graphics, I am in heaven. I have not had a crash with PageStream on my Amiga in ages.... cannot remember the last time I did, really. I can print anything I make at home, or send from school, and my Amiga 4000 and Lexmark 4039-12R will print it out. Yes, the pace may be less rapid, but the dependability is not a trifling matter!!!
As well, the OS on the Amiga is more "logical" in the way it works as far as I am concerned. I have a great love for DOpus on my Amiga. I find the Mac and the Windows ways of dealing with manipulation of files a real PITA!!!! Possibly DOpus is the reason, but I can get more done in 10 minutes on the Amiga when I am moving files than I can get done in half an hour with either system I am responsible for maintaining.
Yes, I miss the speed. Yes, I miss Flash on my Amiga browser. Yes, I would like to be able to use quite a few programs on my Amiga that I use at school. However, in the end, I have less stress with my Amiga. DON'T let that make you think the Amiga has NOT ever given me problems... I have had Hard Disk crashes a couple of times the week before report cards have to be handed in... and THAT was not fun. I swore the Amiga was giving me a little reminder as to how much I rely on it... : ))))
Hope that helps.
Gil
Sardis, BC
-
I've decided to stop using my Amiga and only use my Wintel box. Why? Because I tend to forget what a piece of crap Windows is after a while, but as soon as I switch on the A1200 it all comes back resulting in hours of hysterical screaming and punching things. :-D
-
Why do we need PC's that run at 3ghz but the software being sold will run the same on a less than 1ghz system.
To run UT2003 (or any DirectX 8.1/9.X class games) (at least 1024 x 768 x 32bit res @ maximum details("holy $hit" mode)) with custom map "2019". 512MB of PC3200 DDR SDRAM is not enough. Installing 1GB of memory seems to fix** the occasional jerky frame rates (**due to reduction of VM access).
-
"If micro$oft was to start writing software for the Amiga we would have a come back"
You've got to be joking?! If they ever got involved with the AmigaOs and its programs I would run the other way. The last thing I would want to see happen is to have my sweet working system working like crap because some programmers thought it should be bloated and irritating as .... well, I'm sure you get my meaning.
-
"If micro$oft was to start writing software for the Amiga we would have a come back"
wasn´t amiga basic from m$ ? this one was (imho) crap :-(
-
Quite a long time since I made a posting in one of these forums
- so long that my account got deleted (ho hum , never
mind , it didn't take that long to re-register).
There are loads of reasons in here to use an Amiga .
Some are practical , some are sentimental . How about a
political reason - I don't want to contribute to the profits of
the MegaShaft corporation . Bill Gates has more than enough
money already . To avoid using WinDoze takes an amount of
ingenuity & determination but it can be done . My A1200
still does most of what I want it to do & for most of the time
the difference in speed compared to the PeeCee at work is not
that noticeable . It's not all about blindingly fast processors
& ludicrous amounts of ram .
Has anyone mentioned the Ram disk as an amazingly useful
feature of the Amiga that a PeeCee just can't match ? . . . . .
Could go on but I don't want to just repeat what's already
been said . Did anyone mention that it's FUN using a miggy ? :-)
-
I too use an amiga because I want to.
I don't use an pc because I don't have to.
And that is fine by me because whenever I use a PC I have the distinct impression that I am not in control.
The OS is telling me what and what not to do and is keeping tabs on all my actions. Stunning to see a machine that is even more paranoid then I am!
Besides. The PC is soon to be an outdated concept. Even dumpass consumers are getting tired of it. And within a few years we have newsgroups asking why nobody isn't using old crappy PC hardware. And the answer would be simple. No more Microsoft support.
-
I still use Amiga's for video work.
I have an A4000 with a Supergen SX working as a Character Generator. For the money it looks better than a current product.
I also have a Toaster I use occassionally.
-
So, what are your reasons?
I still use my A4000 regularly and I have an A500 and A2000 that I toy with. A friend of mine has asked me to put together an Amiga system for his kids to learn on, so I'm preparing to fix him up with something. There's no substitute for the fantastic Amiga OS. jerimycampbell@yahoo.com
-
I came back to using the amiga about a year ago after picking up an A4000, monitor, printer I came accross by accident in a classified ad.
Since then I suppose I've rediscovered the joys of the amiga, the logical simplicity, the speed and the excellent multitasking. I use XP at work and lets face it, the task switching sucks. I click on the prog I want to use on the task bar and it brings up a different window to the one I wanted! The citrix server crashes many times per day and gives me so much more work to do than if it actually WORKED!
I think the latest virus threats just show what a disaster a computer 'monoculture' will lead to. If I get these troubles with XP, then surely everyone must too, meaning one company is bringing economic loss and inefficiency while milking companies for tech support and 'upgrades'.
Yeah, amiga is sort of a hobby and just fun really. But fun isn't to trivialise amiga or its OS - even if 'amigans' keep their old machines for nostalga, the amigan attitude to computing is still to look for something comparable to that old machine and something in the spirit of that OS - be it OS4 or whatever.
-
Recently I came across my A2000HD and my A500 (also owned an A600 at some stage, but that was sold off) sitting in the cupboard collecting dust (completely forgot I even had them...weird). I hooked them up and to my surprise they both still worked. Sadly, the A500 seems to be dying and the A2000 has a flakey CIA and a leaky battery, but hey eventually I'll fix them both.
Anyway, it was such a step back in time for me, I completely forgot how much fun the Amiga was to use (though I hate how WB won't let you switch between open windows).
Being the rather inpatient person that I am, I couldn't wait to find the time to get my old Amigas fully working again, so, through one of the people I have met from the Amiga community in Melbourne, I bought myself an A1200, nothing fancy, but better than stock, just so I can enjoy the Amiga experience again.
Eventually I will probably tower it and add a few upgrades, mainly for the fun of it though, not to use it as my main computer as I have a rather speedy Athlon based system for that.
Sadly, while reading through a lot of the post in this thread, I noticed that a lot of people seem to can x86 based systems as well as Windows. I would just like to go on record as saying that in the 10 years or so that I have been working with x86 based systems and Windows, very rarly have I ever experienced any problems, it all comes down to the quality of your hardware and how much time you put into configuring your OS.
For around 3 years I worked as a tech in a shop, and on countless occaisions I came across people with the same problem "My computer always crashes", 9 times out of 10, it was to do with poor configuration or dodgy 3rd party software, hardly ever was it just Windows.
Sorry for babbling on, but I felt my opinion should be heard as I have experienced nothing but enjoyment from all of the computer systems I have owned, from my C64 to my current Athlon.
-
…
Has anyone mentioned the Ram disk as an amazingly useful
feature of the Amiga that a PeeCee just can't match ? . . .
Note that RAM disk feature can be access via WinUAE. Also note that Amiga is a PC, just not IBM PC/AT compatible (not factoring Amiga’s X86 emulators) .
-
I use my 3 Amiga 2000HD computers mainly for playing my over 1000 classic Amiga games and for PC game development (graphics and sound). I create the actual game levels on my Pentium 4 PC. :-P
-
There are commercially available dynamic ramdisks for Windows. It sucks that you have to pay for third party software for such a feature though, you'd have thought there was room for it somewhere among the bloat.
-
SilvrDrgn wrote:
Samuar wrote:
(...) and he was curious to know exactly why people still use their amiga over more modern (sometimes even cheaper) solutions/systems.
So, what are your reasons?
(...) Plus, my web site runs on my A4000T, which is turned on 24x7.
any heating/replacing hard drives very often problems?
-
For me it's the use of an efficiently and intelligently
designed computer as well as the fun in maintaining them.
-
that_punk_guy wrote:
There are commercially available dynamic ramdisks for Windows. It sucks that you have to pay for third party software for such a feature though, you'd have thought there was room for it somewhere among the bloat.
Sorry, but this is untrue, MS-DOS comes standard with an apart program for that.
-
"Why do you still use your old Amiga?"
Because it hosts my web site using the Amiga version of Apache! :-)
-
@silvrdrgn
any heating/replacing hard drives very often problems?
-
Because i Love to use it...!!
i also have A1xeg4 .. but its not a classic!!!!!
i also have pc grab in my closet :-D
thousand of megaherz but... no fun at all!!!!
-
can i have it then? :-)
-
I dont know why people say a PC (windows) crashes alot..I have one running Win 2k pro, day and night, weeks on end without any problems.
Amiga 2000HD - for ? (hasnt come in yet! LOL)
Amiga 500 - for games..will use the A2000HD w/cdrom to read cd's w/ADF's on 'em, then put 'em to floppy for the A500....****if only I had a CDROM for the A500.*****
Pegasos - coding
-
@Speelgoedmannetje:
"Sorry, but this is untrue, MS-DOS comes standard with an apart program for that."
No, it doesn't. The ms-dos ramdisk is totally STATIC. It doesn't enlarge or decrease depending on your needs. AmigaOS ramdisk changes its size DINAMICALLY to make room for files.
-
Sorry guys, I already said my opinion (page 1) I just wanted to have the no #100 post on this forum.
Could not resist! :-P
-
(see earlier post) I 4got to look at all the replies... :-D
-
I use my "old" (if you can call it that way) Amiga, becuase i grew up with that machine, it gave me good fun over the last years, and it still does.
Of course I am not only using my Amiga, but i hafta say that to 80% it is my Amiga that i use most. Therefore my Amiga lives for ever, no matter what happens.
I use it because i want to use it, because i like, because it is a wonderful piece of technology!!!!!!
-
Because I don't have a new one... :-D
-
Why do I still use my old Amiga? ermmmm..
Well using a old Amiga is like making love to a beautiful woman...... you sit down before her and run your hands over her petit little body and she'll light up super quick before you... She's also very forgiving, if you treat her bad, just control her two little A's and she'll switch off breifly but will be back and ready for some more play in seconds (Alias Swiss Tony). :-P