Public Release of MorphOS 2.6 & Introduction of PowerMac Support

[ferrellsl]

Bloody hell, almost £100 for a licence key? :shocked:

Yes, I have to agree with you.  Others on here will point out that OSX is comparable in price, but OSX supports multi-core CPUs and has a wealth of applications out there.  Try finding a decent office suite and a modern web browser for MOS.  OSX also supports a broader range of hardware.  MOS is still limping by on old ATI 9xxx series video cards. And yes, it will run on a multi-core system but only uses one core.

[ferrellsl]

I paid $550 for a SuperCPU 128 back in 2007 (though it is now worth ~$1,500). Should I compare my 128 to a Mac with OSX too? ;-)

Sure.  Compare away.  The only system of the 3 that you can do any real work with is OSX.  Peopled don't buy MOS for nostalgia.  Nor do people buy OSX for nostalgia.  They buy it to get things done.  That's the point.  You're trying to justify the expense of MOS like it's some sort of antique to be collected.  MOS is still being produced.  It's not an antique.

[ferrellsl]

I bought the G4 just to run MOS and purely for nostalgic reasons as I got rid of all my Amiga's a few years ago. lol

You could just as easily have used WinUAE and saved a lot of money if you're looking for nostalgia.  Or buy a used classic Amiga.  MOS is marketed as an alternative to OS4 and is touted to be "modern".  It wasn't developed for the sake of nostalgia.  It was developed with some backward compatibility in mind, hence the ability to run some apps from OS3.9 and earlier.  MOS's strength is also its weakness.  It's strength lies in being able to run native MOS apps at blazing speed.  There just aren't very many native apps.  So sure, spend several hundred dollars for a dedicated MOS box and a copy of MOS to run pre-OS4 apps, but you can do it much cheaper and faster in WinUAE.  Until some developers make some useful applications for MOS, my PegII will continue to be an expensive boat anchor taking up space in my basement.

[ferrellsl]

@ Ferrellsl

Your points are all valid except for the fact that everyone interested in AmigaOS is here for nostalgia. The "nostalgia" user base is likely 10 times larger than anything else available for Amigoid systems.

Two cents.

Ed.

I strongly disagree with you.  There are quite a few people on this forum who are waiting for the X1000 and their primary interest isn't in paying $3000 US for the sake of nostalgia.  I didn't buy OS4 or MOS for the sake of nostalgia either.  I left the Amiga community in 1992.  I rejoined in 2005 and I believed the marketing crap from the MOS folks as well as Hyperion.  I thought I'd give both OSs a try, not because I wanted to drops lots of cash to run old pre-OS4 software.  I was looking for an alternative to Windows and Linux. What I found were very poor alternatives for the price.  OS4 has barely moved beyond OS3.9 in functionality.  MOS is slicker and faster but lacks any useful and modern, standards- compliant applications.  I'm not disputing the size of the "nostalgia" base.  I'm disputing all the crap being thrown around about how modern and useful OS4 and MOS are.

I bought MOS and a PegII in 2007.  I paid $700 for the hardware and $250 for MOS.  Three years later, there are still no useful applications that I can use to get any work done and no usable browser (OWB and Netsurf are still mostly broken).  Any native apps for MOS or OS4 are amateurish at best.  I paid over $200 for OS4.1 and it's the same story.  Even worse, printing support is almost non-existent and USB support is almost unusable.  I just believe that when I pay a "quality" price, I should get a "quality" product.  $1150 USD should have given me a lot more than just a Workbench or Ambient screen.

[ferrellsl]

The browser is rather modern (quite obvious since it's based on a very recent WebKit version). And there are native applications for most standard needs too (video, audio, net, emulators, opensource games, filesharing, ...)

You may be right it lacks an office suite. However, I'm not sure Office work is the 1st thing people expect from their "home OS" when they come back from work (but well, that's just me .

"Rather modern"  or "recent" is very subjective and relative.  Sure, it's based on web kit, an older version than the one in use on most systems today and there's no flash support, no download manager, no plug-ins, and CSS support is flaky.  And when I come home and need a real tool to get real work done, I switch on a PC running Linux or Windows.  If I want to play games or use a toy, well, there you go.  There's MOS or OS4....or a UAE variant.  Oh, but wait....no game development there anymore and no Media Center app that can play DVDs or BluRay/HD.

[ferrellsl]

I agree 100%.  And MOS would kick ass if it had some native productivity apps.  My friends get all excited when they see MOS but then they ask, "What kind of apps are out there for MOS?", and I have to tell them, "Well, not much really."  MOS would grow by leaps and bounds if it ran OpenOffice or if it had a decent word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program.  I don't even think they'd have to be integrated into a suite. There has to be some bait for these fish to get hooked!  But once they realize there's nothing on the hook, they swim off looking for a tastier lure.

OWB or Netsurf won't do it.  A Media Player won't do it.  MOS has to have an office suite for work, a decent browser for the web, and a decent media player for recreation to be successful.  That's why I get so frustrated when I see a post about how a new Firewire stack or some such is being developed for MOS.  Why can't devs work on something that's in more demand? Sure, a Firewire stack is great but that won't sell any more copies of MOS to the skeptics.

@Boot WB

Sorry to be ranting.  We're actually in violent agreement!  LOL  It's just that I have this great OS on an expensive piece of hardware down in my basement and I'd REALLY like to use it for some productive work!  I hate to see it just acting as a dust collector.

[ferrellsl]

So when did you last use it?

Around December 2008.

[ferrellsl]

@ Golem!DK nicholas and TakeMeHomeGrandma

I'm not out of touch at all.  You asked me when I last "USED" MOS.  That implies real work.  I last TRIED to use it for real work back in Dec 2008.  It wasswitched on last about 2 months ago.  I follow Amiga and MOS development daily.  Just 2 months ago I tried installing the latest OWB and Netsurf on it.  Installing and configuring both was a nightmare and they're still filled with bugs and crash regularly.  I don'k like spending hours troubleshooting buggy software.  My time is worth more to me than that.  Not my idea of fun, so my PegII was switched off again until I see something WORTHWHILE to install on it again.

And you recommend using Google Docs as an app, please, that's pretty insulting.  I'd rather use Windows notepad and a legal pad for calculations. And I never said hordes would run out and buy MOS.  That will NEVER happen, especially since non-Amigans can't and won't be convinced that MOS is anything other than a toy for geeks.  Before non-Amigans will buy it, they have to be convinced that it will do something useful, not just for surfing the web and playing an MP3 or a DVD.  There are much better products out there for that and they're much more cost effective and easy to use than MOS.  If you like throwing money away on antique hardware, and an overpriced and under supported OS, then sure, buy MOS or OS4.  But don't fall into the trap that you're going to generate Documents, Presentations, or manage a business on either OS.  Of course the Hyperion/A-Eon and MOS fan boys will argue with me.  But if they're so right, why isn't the OS4 and MOS market really growing?  Sure, MOS will gain a few more sales because of recent Mac support, but no businessman in his right mind is going to sink good money into an obsolete Mac that even Apple doesn't support any longer.

[ferrellsl]

Doubt all you want.  The lastest OWB for OS4 stalled about 6 months ago and that's where it's likely to stay.  It caused nothing but problems on my PegII.  I tried installing MOS OWB 1.6 on my PegII, same story.  Next tried Netsurf.....even worse disaster.  Too much trouble and too little offered for me to keep wasting my time with any of them.  Maybe if Timberwolf ever gets released I'll switch the damn thing back and give it a go, but I doubt it.  It's easier and less time consuming to just turn on one of my PCs and know that it will work.  I'm tired of fighting the losing battle of "Amiga NG".  And I'm just talking about problems with browsers......if any office suites ever get developed, which is highly doubtful, I can only wonder what nightmares will accompany them.

BTW, my PegII is dual booting OS4 and MOS....

[ferrellsl]

I'm still at MOS 2.4.  I will try to upgrade to 2.6 before trying any new browser installs although I'm not seeing anything compelling that makes me want to.

As for MOS being one step above shareware, I agree except that we're charged a retail price for it. Same can be said for OS4.  Both should be priced one step above shareware.  And for OS4 to have such poor USB and printing support at such a high price is criminal.  Regardless of where Amiga came from in the past, people today have certain expectations about what an OS will do.  And both MOS and OS4 are sorely lacking in many areas for users to pay retail prices.  And I've heard all the arguments about economics and economies of scale......tell that to the Linux community, the MenuetOS community, Haiku, etc.  They all have better support and performance and don't cost a dime.  Amiga enthusiasts are simply being price gouged because of their fanatical love of Amiga, plain and simple.

[ferrellsl]

But that is EXACTLY what it is.  If you believe otherwise then more power to you but it is just a toy for big boys to play with.

I agree with you and what I have been trying to point out is that both OS4 and MOS are being portrayed differently on this and other forums.  They're being pushed as a high tech alternative OSs and they aren't.  And that's especially true now that the X1000 is being developed.  Nothing but hype about a co-processor (ala classic Amiga style) and how powerful the X1000 CPU is.  The tech specs of the X1000 tell the real story.  And MOS fan-boys telling me that I can do ANYTHING with MOS that I can do in Windows or Linux......not hardly  They may not come right out and say such things on the developer web sites, but the devs of both MOS and OS4 appear on here and other forums regularly and  make comments that at best can be viewed as misleading and at worst, false advertising.  I'm tired of being scammed.  Don't like to see it happen to others.

[ferrellsl]

"Amiga enthusiasts are simply being price gouged because of their fanatical love of Amiga, plain and simple. "

I believe this. So to recap in me expierience the best values out there are:

A) Amiga forever (legal dist of os3.1) or AROS or UAE
B) Morphos
C) Amiga os4

for anyone reading this who may be new to Amiga or has been away a long time. I recommend getting Amiga Forever. You will support a developer and get legal version of OS3.1 in a nice package.

I have owned A500, cdtv, cd32, 1000, 2000, 2500, 3000, 3000t, 4000d, 4000t, and minimig.

Get yourself a Pentium 4 that some folks give away and you'll be happy painlessly emulating all the above worry free for practically nothing.

At the end of the day Mophos and Amiga OS4 provide you with LESS of a computing experience you can get for free.

That bein said I am an Amiga fanatic and if supoorting Morphos helps support a platform, it's my cash and I'll spend it on this stuff.

I guess that's why Amiga stuff goes for insane amounts on eaby and why Amiga anything is expensive. For many of us thi has become a step above a vice such as drinking, gambling or recreational drugs. Keeps us away from the wifey and outta trouble.

We're in agreement.  But I think Minimig, Natami, and the fpgaarcade should be sandwiched in there between A and B.

[ferrellsl]

ferells

Why have you polluted this thread with nonsense information? "limping around on a radeon 9000" "Try and find a MOS browser that is modern"

umm.. Morphos drivers and radeon 9000 is waaay faster than my Nvidia gforce 7900 agp on my windows box running linux or windows...

OWB is a very nice compatible browser that supports most websites...

You can pick up a used g4 powermac and buy morphos license for $350... that is the cheapest and fastest amiga os type solution in the world!

So stop talking crap because you clearly havent thought things through or are misinoformed

Yes, my PegII limps around on an ATI 9250.  You're welcome to come see it if you'd like.  And YOU'RE sadly misinformed if you think that either the Nvidia 7900 or an ATI 9250 represent modern computing.  The benchmarks and tech specs prove it.  Maybe 5 years ago!

Why would I spend  approx. $600 USD for a computer that can't even surf the web properly right out of the box?  If I'm looking for a toy, yeah, maybe.

[ferrellsl]

Thanks Karlos. I have a GTX 295 in my Windows tower and even it is a couple generations behind and a new GTX 480 runs rings around it.  Nice to see that there are a few people on this forum who still keep up with PC hardware specs and don't go thru life wearing Amiga or MOS blinders (or goggles)......It's really annoying when one of them gets on here and trys to convince me that his Amiga or MOS video card with 64MB of RAM (which is just one step above a dumb framebuffer) can compete with anything currently on the graphics market.

[ferrellsl]

I'm sorely tempted to get a 480 as I got a bit hooked with CUDA on the 275. With the full speed double precision, increased cache and full IEEE 754 support, it looks a real computational powerhouse

Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about!

Wouldn't it be cool if Nvidia developed a multi-core CPU based on their GPU technology and then wrote their own OS for it?  That would be MY dream Amiga!