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Author Topic: Would you buy a new AmigaOS for 68k?  (Read 4218 times)

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Offline amigadave

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Re: Would you buy a new AmigaOS for 68k?
« on: December 17, 2014, 07:42:03 AM »
Quote from: Darrin;779984
As someone who uses ClassicWB across all of my "classic" Amigas, I'd certainly be happy to buy a legal floppy/CD combination of an updated OS which contains all of the latest files and patches in one easy to install package.  With the use of something like "AmiUpdate", it could use the Internet to keep it updated with the latest files or allow the user to easily add additional programs.

I wonder if this can't already be done with the AmiKit version 8 for real Amiga computers (ignoring the problem(s) raised by the inclusion of MUI v4, due to what the authors did with copyrights and/or documentation)

I have always liked AmiKit and Jan who works to get permissions and exclusive offers occasionally to include applications, games, or utilities/tools with certain versions over the years.  I think that it is an excellent collection of Amiga patch files, tools, utilities, applications and a few games, that looks great and has always worked well for me.  There may be even more improvements that can be added to AmiKit for real Amiga computers, and/or further optimizations that can be done, depending on which CPU you have in your Amiga, or if you are running RTG on a dedicated video card, or still using AGA/ECS displays.

I don't know if AmiKit includes all of what is generally installed with the unofficial Boing Bag 3, or Boing Bag 4, but assume that they are included in the latest version of AmiKit.  Others may use AmigaSys, ClassicWB, or other compilations of custom AmigaOS3.x files, but having an ongoing project that would provide updates automatically via an Online utility that downloads and installs updates as they become available (like AmiUpdate, or Grunch), would be great and something I would subscribe and pay a moderate fee for each few months.

I think it could be done legally if it checked your CD drive for the AmigaOS3.9 CDROM, and installed it's additional files on top of an existing AmigaOS3.9 installation, including the installation of the two official Boing Bags 1 & 2 and the unofficial Boing Bags 3 & 4, plus all updated files created since that time.

I think that many Amiga users would prefer this simple click to install all-in-one update to the most modern AmigaOS3.x installation currently available, instead of having to search for and decide which components should be installed by themselves, as the expertise to choose the best files and components is only known to a few dozen expert users, and many of us "less expert" users could use some assistance to obtain the best results.

If the installation script could also ask questions and provide alternative choices depending on which CPU you have, which video card, and a few other things that vary from one Amiga, further optimizations could be performed to maximize the performance for your specific Amiga model and accelerator.

I think this could be done without any new Kickstart ROM's being required, as the best performance is usually obtained from loading many/most of the components contained in the KS ROM's and remapping them into Fast RAM.

I am looking forward to the day when a really fast FPGA based accelerator for several different Commodore Amiga models is available for purchase, and an installation script and required files are available to setup the most powerful and full featured AmigaOS3.x system with a simple click (or double click) of an installation icon.

I would be happy to use an accelerated Commodore Amiga that has an FPGA based accelerator capable of running faster than a 680x0 clocked at 400MHz, instead of any other NG Amiga platform, if we can get some new software applications (and games) that are comparable with, or better than the currently available native PPC AmigaOS4.x, or MorphOS3.x software.  I would think that a soft-core 680x0 CPU running in excess of 400MHz should be powerful enough to run the OWB/Odyssey web browser at a decent speed, if it is coupled with an RTG video card, but maybe I am just dreaming of being able to use one of my old Commodore Amiga computers to do most of my daily Internet browsing and email tasks.
How are you helping the Amiga community? :)
 

Offline amigadave

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Re: Would you buy a new AmigaOS for 68k?
« Reply #1 on: December 20, 2014, 05:15:57 AM »
Quote from: Darrin;780049
@ AmigaDave,

Yeah, that would be nice.  I like AmiKit on UAE, but I think it would strain most "real" classic Amiga models.  I don't have any above 68040 (although I plan on getting the 608060 expansion for my FPGA Arcade).

It would be a dream to just insert a floppy disk which detects your CD/DVD drive, allows you to format a large hard drive and then prompt you with various questions like:

Do you have a Mediator (loads drivers)
What RTG card are you using (loads drivers)
etc, etc, etc

We can dream.  :D

Exactly what I was thinking and dreaming of!

I am thinking that such a powerful version of AmigaOS3.x would run acceptably on one of the proposed Apollo FPGA accelerator cards, since they are supposed to run multiple times faster than the fastest real 68060 in many tests.  The tests that have done so far were on the smaller, less powerful Vampire 600 FPGA accelerator, so when the Phoenix, or Apollo accelerators are released with the Cyclone 5 FPGA, they should be much faster than the Vampire 600 board.

I need to test the latest version of AmiKit for Real Amigas on my A1200 w/A1260@50MHz & 256mb Fast RAM, but I don't have a video card on that system, only an IndivisionAGA, so I am not sure how it will perform.

I also have an A4000D in a tower case that has a CS MkII w68060@80MHz and a PicassoIV video card, which will run AmiKit v8 for Real Amigas better than my A1200 w/A1260.
How are you helping the Amiga community? :)