Amiga flavors.

[CroCrew]

Ok, I need to be brought up to speed and you guys and gals seem to be the best of the best. I want to become an Amigan again. Back in the day I was a hard core Commodore/Amiga fan. I created several applications with my old systems. Now I want to come make a comeback.

From my understanding there are 4 main flavors in use today AmigaOS (m68k), AmigaOS4 (PPC), MorphOS (PPC) and AROS (i686). I know that I am going to go with a PPC or i686. So, I have some questions.

AmigaOS4: Are there any older systems that can load up this OS? Who knows of the cheapest places to buy a new or used system with AmigaOS4 installed?

MorphOS: Is there a version that can be installed on a Mac? If so What Macs can use MorphOS? Who knows of the cheapest places to buy a new or used system with MorphOS installed?

AROS: Is there more then flavor of AROS?

Thanks in advance for any reply.

[CroCrew]

AmigaONE system only... someone might be able to sell you one second hand. They don't make them anymore so you won't find a new one.

Are you saying that the new Amiga OS4 only works on a system that is no longer being made? Then is OS4 dead?

[CroCrew]

Wow, thanks for the great information. Keep on betatesting.

xeron wrote:
@CroCrew
OS4 itself is being worked on full time by a small team of developers, and part time by a larger group of developers. The OS4 team wouldn't continue if they didn't have plans to get OS4 out there on available hardware in the near future.

There are two publically announced projects to bring out PPC hardware for OS4 (ACK and Troika), which a lot of people are very skeptical of (understandibly), and the OS4 team have hinted at other deals in the pipeline.

Basically, a lot of people think OS4 is now totally dead, a lot of other people don't agree.

Welcome to the Amiga world ;-)

Personally, I'm a beta tester and I can see for myself that OS4 development hasn't stalled (there are still new updates nearly every day for betatesters). I also have a bit more faith than most that Adam (the guy behind some new OS4 hardware) will actually get some hardware out, but i'll leave that up to you to judge.

BTW: MorphOS is kind-of in the total opposite situation; hardware is out there and available, but the next major update to it (1.5) has been "due for release any time soon" for quite a while now, and a fair few MOS users have totally given up hope for it to ever appear. But there have been a lot of small updates released, as well as unofficial updates from end-users.

[CroCrew]

Is the system in the link below any good? How long will it last before you think an upgrade will be needed?

pierre wrote:
yes a pre release is not the same as commercial release, it kind of like a beta? right?  
So I will say it again, OS4 has not been official release.  I would like to but os4 but I can't.

morphOS and hardware can be purchased here:
https://www.pegasosppc.com/special_odw.php?partner=morphos
currently they are working on there second commercial release morphOS 1.5.

[CroCrew]

Guys, lets not bicker please. You both like similar products and that’s cool. No need to bicker. Thank you both for your help so far.

Thanks again and please if there is more information out there post it here for us to read.

[CroCrew]

"I'm even more interested in is x686 amigas"

What news have you on this?

Thanks.

pierre wrote:
o.k.  I was wrong... tried to correct myself.  I don't think it's my fault they could not produce enough units...(or have a solid plan IMO)  I will keep my ears open and if and when there are new a1 and and OFFICIAL os4 release I will consider it, but I think I'm going for the peg anyway, I like the idea of running macOS and lunix as well.  What I'm even more interested in is  x686 amigas, PPC are already old. I don't want to be negative about os4, I just wanted to set the record strait for people just now getting back into this, it very confusing and I think you made it sound like the morphOS ppl had adandoned ship when infact they have released both OS and hardware (peg1 and 2) and are working on the second version of the os.  In contrast the os4 team has not had an official release and currently don't have hardware.  I'm not going to make a judgment about that (for you) it's just where things stand.  I don't have all the info and when I am wrong I will gladly admit it.  More importantly I am extreamly interested in learning more about most things amiga!  

[CroCrew]

Ahh, good points!

pierre wrote:
no news per say thomas is right.
Aros is the only system availabe right now.  There is also amigathon but that is no longer sold.
My point is that both peg and a1/os4 are built around ppc tech, I feel that that is old tech and we need to get amigas running and intel/AMD chips just like apple did...I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon, BTW but it the future...

[CroCrew]

Great information again!

xeron wrote:
Adam of ACK controls has stated that he is working on at least two new boards with the aim of running OS4.

The first of which is the PowerVixxen LT. This is an accelerator for towerised Amiga 1200 computers. It attaches to the trapdoor slot, and provides a PPC processor, mobility radeon graphics, and maybe some other goodies like USB and ethernet. This board has a lower end PPC CPU soldered on and will allow OS4 to run, while giving programs access to the original chipset for maximum compatibility.

The second board is the PowerVixxen TL, which is a standalone motherboard like the A1. It is said that it will have a CPU socket into which you can put an AmigaOne compatible CPU card (which Adam is also producing). This board is supposed to have a lot of expandability, and not so many features built into the board. I don't know too much of the specifics for this board, but apparently it has a faster memory bus and things which will make it run rings around existing AmigaOne boards.

Whether they actually are going to arrive or not is a subject of extremely heated debate... personally I don't know, but I'm optimistic. Possibly more optimistic than I should be, but then I reeeeally like OS4 and i'm hoping SOME sort of solution to the hardware problem happens.

[CroCrew]

If it can't be downloaded or bought then who is working on Amithlon? How do you get the OS or updates?

mihcael wrote:
For more info on your x86 amiga options look here.. x86 Amiga - Amithlon / AROS

Whilst amithlon can't be bought or downloaded, (it can be obtained by other means) provides better compatibility then aros and is continually being updated to work with newer hardware!

AROS is free and it's open source!!! anyone can contribute!
visit http://www.aros.org/ for more info!