Desolator wrote:
But seriously, will the new AmigaOS be able to run the old games (as ADF's I presume.) or not?
On the whole, no. OS4 doesn't emulate the custom chipset. Of course, if you are running it on a Cyberstorm, the custom chipsets are still there, but the 68k will be a JIT emulation on top of the PowerPC; so you get perfect custom chipset functionality (from the actual chips), and everything gets a kick up the ass (speedwise).
The AmigaONE version will be for retargetable programs, for example; YAM, IBrowse, Voyager, AWeb, AmIRC, Photogenics, Art Effect, ImageFX, Perfect Paint, Personal Paint, SoundFX, Audio Evolution, Digibooster, Amiga Writer, Final Writer, Wordworth, Payback, Crossfire II, Aqua, (and much more).
(of course I can't say for definate which will work, but theres no reason to suspect any of those above won't work, along with thousands of other programs).
Of course, there WILL be new software for OS4. How much, and how useful is anyones guess, and I don't blame anyone for being pessimistic about it, but I like to think positively. Although the situation is better for me than most users; I'll be poistively on cloud nine just having an enhanced and extended PowerPC native AmigaOS4 to develop for; regardless of its commercial success. So, really, the decision is easier for me than most.
There is frightenly little information regarding the emulation part in AOS4...
You'll get a JIT 68k emulator. Of course, theres nothing to stop someone writing custom chipset emulation software later.
(yes, I could and will shell out $800 on a machine just for the new OS and OLD games. That I can program it and other things is just a nice bonus.. 
)
Well, the old games will probably require UAE. But, because of design decisions that were made by both Commodore and software engineers in the "good old days" that (usually) made perfect sense at the time, you have to lose some degree of compatibility to go forward. Thats just life.
