Again, Why didn't they port Amiga OS?

[KennyR]

They did, it's called AROS.

[KennyR]

bloodline wrote:
The choice of PPC was to lock the user into a specific and very expensive platform.

But also to avoid endian problems, the same problems that make it nigh impossible for AROS as it is to have integrated 68k emulation. Phase5's and so later Amiga's decision to use PPC wasn't just based on greed for a hardware market or anti-x86 religion.

[KennyR]

DonnyEMU wrote:
That's just it, being a programmer I know that endian issues aren't really a justification.

They're not a problem until you try to integrate legacy support with your new OS, like loading 68k shared libraries and using them with x86 applications.

[KennyR]

Sure, but integrating UAE isn't good enough to match OS4 and MOS in terms of compatibility. Imagine having to install a mirror copy of all your system files for 68k - MUI libs, datatypes, etc, just because they can't be loaded by native executables. And native libraries couldn't be loaded by 68k ones. The two systems aren't really "integrated", just attached.

You could for example run IBrowse on an integrated UAE, but without taking advantage of native Zune libraries. And you couldn't get it online anyway, because it wouldn't be able to load the native TCP/IP stack library (unless you use a wrapper like WinUAE does). And you'd have to emulate everything else like graphics functions too. It'd probably be better using WinUAE on its own if that's what you want. And this would not kick OS4's ass, not even on the fastest PC.

[KennyR]

@bigbenaussie

Well, you totally forgot one major part of the story. In 1997, Phase5 had already produced PPC boards for the Amiga and proved they could supply a viable hardware PPC platform for migration from 68k without having to drop legacy totally and suddently (which would be fatal for such a small software base). Other PPC solution announcements - amijoe, Brainstormer G3, the original Escena AmigaONE - turned out to be vapor and were never produced. The SharkPPC remains in limbo.

Amiga Inc was nothing really to do with the decision to go PPC. They chose to announce OS4 on PPC. This was more as an appeasement measure to hold their possible new market base together than any serious announcement, but they did have a reason in that bPlan (what remained of Phase5) did have software and hardware ready to become the new Amiga and OS4. This later became Pegasos and MorphOS after negotiations between AInc and bPlan broke down. Certain figures then decided it was better to fatally split the community than allow these non-Amiga branded solutions to become the new Amiga, even if in doing so it meant virtually no profit for anyone. Think about it - they did this really for Amiga Inc, who have done NOTHING for the community. Sad.

And on the related subject Amiga Inc. probably didn't choose Amithlon or AmigaOS XL to go on to become OS4, simply because they could never have licenced x86 boards and got their cut the same way they could with proprietary hardware. That's all, really.

[KennyR]

Hagbar wrote:

The_Editor wrote:
X86 codebase ...?


How would you like to be infected today ?

Spyware ?
Adware?
Trojans?
virii ?

Please take your pick.

Please, do not make demagoguery.

Keep in mind that those issues does not affect to *all* x86 OSes.
x86 is not Windows (as B.Gates pretends to tell us). Take the example from an OpenBSD/i386:

"Only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 8 years!"

Please, don't get confused and don't confuse the people.

Right. Also, The_Editor should realise that spyware exploits holes in scripting languages like JavaScript, or via holes in ActiveX or even Java applets. None of these are CPU-specific. A security hole in any of these is still a security hole on x86, PPC, StrongARM, 68k... It has nothing to do with the CPU at all.