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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Marketplace => Topic started by: dreamcast270mhz on December 20, 2009, 03:11:52 AM

Title: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: dreamcast270mhz on December 20, 2009, 03:11:52 AM
I was thinking, would anybody be interested in an AROS equipped PC? I'm still looking into it, but it would be internet ready, equipped with OWB by default, but could be customized by me beforehand. It would have at least a p4, a 60 GB hdd, a radeon 7500 or higher. I'm still looking into total cost, but depending on the setup, $70~100
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: amigadave on December 20, 2009, 03:29:59 AM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534528
I recently got a legal copy of AMithlon and wanted to know, would anyone buy a few equipped desktops? they'd be running PIII or higher, with at least 20G drive and I could dual boot with XP/2000, add a PCI NIC, and they would use some ATi video boards. All would have at least 256 meg ram. I'd load BB1,2 and 3. These would be nice and fast "fake classic amigas". Just to let newbies to amithlon know, it doesn't emulate custom chips, so no software needing these would be usable. Any RTG and AHI complaint software will work, and it is compatible with Wazp3d, a CPU only warp 3d implementation. The price would be around $150~250 USD, maybe less.

You only have 19 posts here, so I guess you haven't been here long enough to know that many Amiga.org members AND the site administrators here strongly discourage and expressly forbid any discussion on the forums (or anywhere else on the site) regarding the illegal copying and distributing of any software, which certainly includes selling old PIII PC's with Amithlon loaded on them plus AmigaOS, BoingBag1, BoingBag2 and the unofficial BoingBag3.

In case you are not aware, AmigaOS in any version and it's associated BoingBags are copyrighted work and have never been released to the Public Domain.  Although no one may ever come after you, the rules of this site expressly prohibit any discussion of pirated work, including any links to sites that discuss or pirate any sort of software.


Edit: AFAIK, Amithlon is not public domain either and there is no such thing as the often repeated term of "AbandonWare".  I am surprised you start your post with the mention of the term, a "legal" copy of Amithlon, and then offer to sell copies of it installed on a bunch of PIII PC's.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: dreamcast270mhz on December 20, 2009, 04:38:27 AM
Quote from: amigadave;534530
You only have 19 posts here, so I guess you haven't been here long enough to know that many Amiga.org members AND the site administrators here strongly discourage and expressly forbid any discussion on the forums (or anywhere else on the site) regarding the illegal copying and distributing of any software, which certainly includes selling old PIII PC's with Amithlon loaded on them plus AmigaOS, BoingBag1, BoingBag2 and the unofficial BoingBag3.

In case you are not aware, AmigaOS in any version and it's associated BoingBags are copyrighted work and have never been released to the Public Domain.  Although no one may ever come after you, the rules of this site expressly prohibit any discussion of pirated work, including any links to sites that discuss or pirate any sort of software.


Edit: AFAIK, Amithlon is not public domain either and there is no such thing as the often repeated term of "AbandonWare".  I am surprised you start your post with the mention of the term, a "legal" copy of Amithlon, and then offer to sell copies of it installed on a bunch of PIII PC's.


Hi amigadave,

Okay, so you're saying I shouldn't offer Amithlon equipped machines? I'm interested to know, genuinely, why is it illegal for me to equip an aging machine with an old OS that nobody, including its copyright holder, seems to care less about? I am not encouraging piracy, in fact, I've never had any issue getting out my XP pro corporate (licensed for 300+ machines) and load those onto machines I refurbish. I can understand where your coming from, I respect the copyrights and know there is no "safe" abandonware, but I'm wondering why you see with such logic, when software hut once sold them for 700+ dollars (i doubt they used a separate copy for each one) and there is nowhere in the documentation with AMithlon that restricts the installation of how many computers iirc. Also, i never once mentioned links to piracy sites. Neither am I a pirate by offering to sell cheap copies. My price is based totally one estimated parts and labor, no software, no OS surcharges.

But I am not here to bicker, if I am breaking the rules by posting this, I'll gladly edit the post saying offer is withdrawn. But I believe I am not, if its legal to burn/backup your kickstarts, amigamaniac offers this, then I am doing nothing above him.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Rebel-CD32 on December 20, 2009, 07:24:24 AM
While I think it's a grand idea selling PCs pre-installed with an Amiga Operating System, unfortunately it's illegal to sell copies without a licence, which is just about impossible to get now. Selling a PC with Amithlon preinstalled wouldn't be any less illegal than selling a PC with copy of Amiga Forever 2009, for example. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's just the way it is unfortunately.

If you'd like a completely legal way of reselling PCs with an Amiga OS on them, perhaps you could look into Aros! It's an Open Source reimplementation of Amiga OS and is source compatible. There is quite a bit of software available for it now, and it has a built-in UAE to run older Amiga software (you only need to provide your own Kickstart file).

The site you mentioned sells flashable EPROMs as backups for real Amigas with failing ROM chips. The service they provide to backup your Kickstart to the EPROM for no extra charge isn't intended as a source for pirate Kickstart ROMs.

No one wants you to give up on your idea, you may just have to rework it a little. If you contact Cloanto, there's a chance they may offer a reseller deal for their Amiga Forever package, which you should be able to sell with your PCs preinstalled, as long as the original CD is provided with the PC.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Kronos on December 20, 2009, 07:37:22 AM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534535
when software hut once sold them for 700+ dollars (i doubt they used a separate copy for each one)


So instead of admitting that your just a lousy pirate in for a few fast bucks, you now make up wild accustations that everybody did/does it ? Way to go ....

Just to make it clear:
While I never dealt with SofHut, I'm still 100% certain that every of those Amithlon-PCs came with a boxed copy of AmigOS-XL (which contains Amitlhon).
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: bhoggett on December 20, 2009, 01:24:43 PM
AFAIK Amithlon was never sold in any other form than the fully boxed 'retail' package by H&P. To sell systems equipped with Amithlon without including the fully boxed Amithlon package would be clearly illegal regardless of whether anyone is going to enforce their copyright or not.

The rules of this (and most other) Amiga forum is that such 'offers' cannot be discussed or promoted within and that should be the end of it.

Anyone attempting to make money by selling Amithlon (unless they are simply re-selling their own boxed copy of it) is a pirate. It doesn't matter one jot how you justify it.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: tone007 on December 20, 2009, 03:22:02 PM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534528
I recently got a legal copy of AMithlon and wanted to know, would anyone buy a few equipped desktops? they'd be running PIII or higher, with at least 20G drive and I could dual boot with XP/2000, add a PCI NIC, and they would use some ATi video boards. All would have at least 256 meg ram. I'd load BB1,2 and 3. These would be nice and fast "fake classic amigas". Just to let newbies to amithlon know, it doesn't emulate custom chips, so no software needing these would be usable. Any RTG and AHI complaint software will work, and it is compatible with Wazp3d, a CPU only warp 3d implementation. The price would be around $150~250 USD, maybe less.


Piracy issues aside, people can find their own crap PIII machines for a whole lot less than $150.

Your time and effort isn't worth $140.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: tone007 on December 20, 2009, 03:25:37 PM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534528
I recently got a legal copy of AMithlon and wanted to know, would anyone buy a few equipped desktops? they'd be running PIII or higher, with at least 20G drive and I could dual boot with XP/2000, add a PCI NIC, and they would use some ATi video boards. All would have at least 256 meg ram. I'd load BB1,2 and 3. These would be nice and fast "fake classic amigas". Just to let newbies to amithlon know, it doesn't emulate custom chips, so no software needing these would be usable. Any RTG and AHI complaint software will work, and it is compatible with Wazp3d, a CPU only warp 3d implementation. The price would be around $150~250 USD, maybe less.


Piracy issues aside, people can find their own crap PIII machines for a whole lot less than $150.

Your time and effort aren't worth $140.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Tension on December 20, 2009, 03:28:31 PM
I have nothing against using pirate software myself.  But selling it is a different matter.  You`re ripping off the public.

Go the AROS route and you`d be fine.

Amithlon is a dead end anyway.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: LoadWB on December 20, 2009, 05:06:09 PM
In short of the entire thread, this whole debate has been had numerous times, and the outcome is always the same: if it's not explicitly public domain it's piracy, and the pirate always loses.  Period.  End of discussion.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: dreamcast270mhz on December 20, 2009, 06:23:40 PM
Okay, okay. i have somethings to say:
@thread & mods
I apologize for stirring up a sensitive subject. feel free to close it if I can't turn it around. I'm not here to make enemies, and it was merely an idea.

@rebel cd32
Great idea! I'll definitely look into it. I'll also look into contacting cloanto regarding their package.

@Kronos
Hey, I wasn't trying to accuse, merely make a point. Calling me a lousy pirate is pretty low, considering I'm willing to change my ideas and am being pretty open minded.

@bhogett

Okay, it will be the end of it.

@tone007
While I appreciate your criticism, the whole idea was to breathe life into your otherwise "crap" P3 machine, which would be a bargain considering amithlon is several times faster than an 80mhz 060.

@tension

I really wasn't intending that, I'm looking into AROS as we speak.

@LoadWB

Okay, time to close the whole piracy debate.

@mods

I'm going the AROS route with this, and I'd appreciate it if we can remove this whole discussion after I edit the first post.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Golem!dk on December 20, 2009, 06:31:48 PM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534597

I'm going the AROS route with this, and I'd appreciate it if we can remove this whole discussion after I edit the first post.


Just let the thread die, or do you expect people to edit their quotes of your post as well? ;)
Ok, it seems you do, maybe change the subject line too? :)
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: tone007 on December 20, 2009, 07:04:06 PM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534528
I'm still looking into total cost, but depending on the setup, $70~100


You can probably count out most non-North American buyers, which is probably the majority of Amiga.org.  Shipping would be more than you're asking for the machines, literally.  Even members across the country would be looking at shipping costs higher than they could locally obtain a low-end machine for.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: persia on December 20, 2009, 07:09:33 PM
The only way to purchase Amiga ROMs legally is to buy Amiga Forever....
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Golem!dk on December 20, 2009, 07:16:04 PM
Quote from: persia;534605
The only way to purchase Amiga ROMs legally is to buy Amiga Forever....

So buying a second hand amiga is considered illegal now?
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: trekiej on December 20, 2009, 07:21:59 PM
We could use an AROS vender in the US.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: dammy on December 20, 2009, 07:37:54 PM
Quote from: persia;534605
The only way to purchase Amiga ROMs legally is to buy Amiga Forever....


Or donate more money to the kickstart replacement bounty.  It needs more loving so a significant developer will pick up the bounty and get it completed on time.  I would be very happy if the last lines are casted off of that Flying Dutchman, AI.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Golem!dk on December 20, 2009, 07:49:03 PM
Quote from: dammy;534618
Or donate more money to the kickstart replacement bounty.  It needs more loving so a significant developer will pick up the bounty and get it completed on time.


That would of course not actually give you any Amiga ROMs.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: dreamcast270mhz on December 20, 2009, 07:53:46 PM
Quote from: tone007;534604
You can probably count out most non-North American buyers, which is probably the majority of Amiga.org.  Shipping would be more than you're asking for the machines, literally.  Even members across the country would be looking at shipping costs higher than they could locally obtain a low-end machine for.


I'll find a way. I just noticed, your a virginian too.
Title: Re: Interested in Amithlon equipped machines?
Post by: Wayne on December 20, 2009, 09:54:11 PM
Quote from: dreamcast270mhz;534535
I'm interested to know, genuinely, why is it illegal for me to equip an aging machine with an old OS that nobody, including its copyright holder, seems to care less about?

The simple point is that while the thought of producing something for the community is admirable, copyright is still copyright, and trying to sell it, bundle it, or distribute it in any way without proper license is, in fact, software piracy, hence illegal, and not really open for discussion here.

While I do tend to agree that software piracy on the Amiga -- AT THIS POINT -- is rather moot, the legalities behind using this site to promote or coordinate such activities is pretty cut and dry.

Again, I thank you for the initiative and the idea, and if you could get the authors of Amithlon and AmigaOS on board, we'll be all behind you 100%.  Until then, this simply isn't the place for such discussion.

Wayne Hunt
Webmaster Emeritus, Amiga.org