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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: pan1k on May 28, 2010, 05:44:07 PM

Title: My iMac died..SamFlex to Replace it?
Post by: pan1k on May 28, 2010, 05:44:07 PM

Hey All..

My iMac died. It's the logic board.. I guess the SATA controller died. Won't find my HD, but I plug it into a computer at work and the drive is fine.

I'm toying with the idea that I could get a Sam Flex as my next computer. I don't do alot with the computer mostly browse the web, IRC and play Amiga games. I know there is no flash or java for Amiga OS 4.1, but realistically, how useful is it? Can it handle 100GB Drives? MP3/DVD playback?

I'm curious to know your experiences with SAM and Amiga 4.1

Title: Re: My iMac died..SamFlex to Replace it?
Post by: antikk on May 28, 2010, 06:01:18 PM

I must answer yes. ;-)

I've got a sam440ep 667. And i use it daily,as my main computer. But get a decent gfx card. The ep has onyl 64mb and it's a tad little. And you can use uae for classic gaming. Get the 733mhz version. And the hd size is no problem. I have a 500gig hd.
I ordered a prebuilt setup,was nice. Just plug the cable in and turn on,and everything worked as expected. :-)

Title: Re: My iMac died..SamFlex to Replace it?
Post by: Everblue on May 28, 2010, 06:09:43 PM

I've had a Sam440 for a while - for sure its fun at first, and all that - but believe me, when you have to do something productive (yes even watching a DVD) you will end up looking for another machine.

Its nice as a hobby system, but it stops there I'm afraid.



PS. Its JUST powerful enough for DVD playback, and I dont think it can playback certain protected movies...

Title: Re: My iMac died..SamFlex to Replace it?
Post by: lsmart on May 28, 2010, 06:36:52 PM

As you can read on my blog here on Amiga.org, I was a Mac user before I got my SAM about a year ago. And while I have kept Macs and Windows-boxes at the house and use them for digital video and the like, I am happy with SAM. (and I sometimes watch DVDs on it without any trouble .. well, some don´t work for unknown reasons, but that´s not a performance issue.)
However, I wouldn´t recommend using it as the only machine and you have to be aware that:

1) Deluxe Paint will only run in UAE
2) Not all USB equipment will work
3) You have to use a postscript printer or some other supported thing (rare)
4) Amigas do crash sometimes and software may have unexpected glitches
5) X11/Amicygnix Software is very slooow - so is Google Docs

Title: Re: My iMac died..SamFlex to Replace it?
Post by: illy5603 on May 28, 2010, 06:57:04 PM

Is your iMac new enough to support booting from a USB disk? If so, mount your drive in a USB enclosure and run it from there. It will be slow, but probably not as slow as a SamFlex...