Hi all. Everything is all set up on my PegII now, and I thought I'd share my opinions after being unsure whether I wanted to invest in this system.
My System
PegII 1GHz G4
512MB RAM
ATI Radeon AIW 128
Stuffed in an AOpen G325
The Hardware
The PegII motherboard seems really well made. Alright so you pay for quality, even so I was very pleased with the quality of the board. The replacement backplate fitted perfectly in the back of the case I bought, and the board conforms to Micro-ATX form factor so fitted perfectly in the case. Incidentally, I absolutely love the case. I gather it's the kind of case people either love or hate. It cost me quite a bit to import it (couldn't find the colour I wanted in the UK). I'll post some pics when it's all tidy.
MorphOS/Ambient
I had a lot of problems initially getting MorphOS to boot. The bootloader would just hang. I eventually tracked it down to a dodgy CD-ROM. So not really a problem with MorphOS itself - though a warning would have been nice. Even so, once the CD is booted, installing MorphOS to hard drive is easy. I was relieved to find that my Radeon was detected automatically, as was the rest of the hardware in my system. I had problems getting 1024x768 working, but I think that's down to a slightly weird screen rather than a problem with MorphOS.
The underlying OS is just like AmigaDOS. The folder structure is identical, as is the syntax for the commands. Ambient is so much like Workbench that it's easy to forget you're not (technically) using an Amiga.
The Ambient interface is very much like Workbench. It is similar enough to be familiar, but a few things don't work quite the same way as they do in Workbench. Themes are supported by Ambient and I have a nice OS4 theme, which adds to the Amiga-esque feel.
MorphOS doesn't come with a TCP/IP stack which I did think was a little strange. I found MOSNet on Aminet which is very easy to get working. Within about 5 minutes I was connected to my network.
I found MUI a bit confusing to start with, as some installers assume you are using classic MUI and bork if it's not there (e.g. iBrowse). This is fixed by installing MUI4 Alpha. I think this should really be included with MorphOS.
The Software
I have UAE set up very nicely. I copied all of my WHDLoad installed games over, and made a script for each one which does the following:
1. Creates an assign to the game's location
2. Echoes "whdload game:.slave" in to my UAE's S:Startup-Sequence
3. Runs UAE in a window
So when you double click the icon, the game just starts, no mucking about with different config files or anything. This feels just like starting a WHDLoad game on a real Amiga. The games play very well. I can't tell any difference in speed with a real Amiga.
I have downloaded native MorphOS ports of Quake and Quake II. These run at full speed, full screen, 1024x768x24, with no lost frames. Impressive. I also bought Wipeout 2097 from Amigakit, which is excellent.
The 68k versions of iBrowse and SimpleMail run nicely - faster than my A1200! Clearly the 68k emulation is very tight. Even so I look forward to native versions.
Summary
This is probably my longest post ever on a.org! I am so pleased with my Pegasos. It feels like an Amiga. It performs quickly and smoothly. It plays my classic games very well. It also plays newer games well. I'm looking forward to investing in some applications and music software.
When I'm using this system, I feel how I always thought I would feel using a "new age" Amiga. I am no longer waiting for the AmigaOne. The PegII is IMO as much an Amiga as my A1200.
--
moto
--EDIT
Various mistakes :-)
--EDIT
Added to software section
