The Red One X vs x1000

[Yasu]

@cpaek72

If you just want to play around with Amiga games and programs from time to time I would recommend either a MIST or the upcoming FPGA Replay. They are both FPGA boards that can emulate an Amiga on a hardware level. The first is OCS/ECS but an AGA core is on the way. FPGA Replay is meant to emulate an A1200 but is not finished yet.

If you want an NG Amiga, then you have three choises, each with it's own advantages and drawbacks: AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and AROS.

AmigaOS 4:
Plus: "Feels" very Amiga. Has new hardware. Cheap OS.
Minus: Driver issues. Hardware cost (except emulated AOS 4 for classic machines under WinUAE).

MorphOS:
Plus: Good support. Cheap PPC Mac hardware in plenty.
Minus: May lack the Amiga feel. No new hardware (support for SAM 460 on the way). OS cost up to 111 Euro.

AROS:
Plus: Gratis. Open source. Runs on cheap X86 hardware. Several good distros to play with.
Minus: Still very beta.

I'm not saying which of these you should buy, just that you should really do your homework first. I started out with a SAM 460 with AmigaOS 4 when it had some serious driver issues which made me sell the machine in rage. Then I played around with AROS for a year before settling for MorphOS. There are other stories where people find their home with AmigaOS 4 or AROS of course.

BUT! From one guy who was a beginner 2.5 years ago to a beginner today I have this advice: don't start with the most expensive combination first. Go for the cheapest alternatives and work your way up until you find the thing that works for you. I myself lost a lot of money not doing that.

[Yasu]

AROS is "still very beta"? Really?

AROS is supporting ARM/X86/X64/PPC and 68k.

I have some knowledge regarding the 68k branch. Where it is "still very beta"?

I can't speak about 68k, but the x86 version still crash a lot. Don't get me wrong, it's getting better and better but it's simply not there yet. Even the developers stress this since they, to their credit, don't want to give the impression that it's a finished product.

That said, all NG flavors crash. Using an NG Amiga as a main system is for fanatics and masochists like me

[Yasu]

I am trying to be fair here, since each and every one of us answering this thread are in love with our OS of choice. And then we tend to give poor advice to newcommers.

I am not saying AROS is buggy crap, only that it's beta. Which it is. That it's resonably stable on the right hardware or the right VM settings is great, but there are still things to fix and features to add. And I have two AROS machines that runs it natively. So I don't say it to flame here.