Bloodline: Anyway as a coder yourself you know that very little of AmigaOS 3.x code is in AOS4.0.
I spend a lot of time refactoring other peoples' code. There is a pretty big margin between actual code and program design.
Hyperion went just a bit too far, which is why it's taken them years to get this thing done (and only if there's new hardware available on which to launch it).
Bloodline: Maybe it is, but it doesn't detract from the fact that 15 year old source code is of no value just about everybody.
15-year-old design can still be useful, if it's done well. Granted, all the hardware-handling stuff in OS3 isn't of any use.
With that said, I still think starting with OS3 was a bad idea. QNX was a lot more interesting, and just because most modern OSes end up cloning UNIX in one way or another, doesn't mean they have to stay that way.
Bloodline: No, you don't need the IP since it can't be used anymore, there are no chip factories that could build Amiga chips...
Hmm... we all know the AGA blueprints are dust, but what about OCS/ECS? People don't seem to talk about the old chipsets that much.
Bloodline: I would put it to you though, that other than the private functions (and the extra comptiblity that that might provide for naughty programs)... it has not sped up or in any way eased the the AOS4 process!
Xeron: and I couldn't disagree more wholeheartedly if I tried.
It doesn't take me all that long to port badly written Perl to decent PHP, and I've seen plenty of wretched Perl (the kind with a regex on every other line). Most of that is writing abstraction layers, and using common techniques that allow the code to run on non-UNIX, non-Apache servers. It never ceases to amaze me how may people hard-code for UNIX/Apache when they don't have to, and use an .htaccess file to mask the fact that their code is terrible and insecure.
This isn't low-level or GUI stuff, of course, but the design work is similar. Also, script writers are generally more aware of security issues than OS developers (which have a curious tendency to leave the system in root all the time, like Windows). I'm really upset with the security/group capabilites of OS4.
Secure computing? The ability to fully quarantine any program? Now
that's something that would get attention! I don't know why people still think CHMODing the hell of out everything and filtering paths is a secure solution.
Snowman040: And bloodline, could you explain more your opinion that Amiga brand isn't worth that much? Do you think that some serious investment in Amiga has no sense?
You're asking this of an AROS developer? :-)
It's not valuable because AmigaOS was designed to run on a 1-2 meg machine with no fast storage. Todays cell phones are more powerful than an A1200, and accept memory cards that store between 64MB to 2GB of data. You can force AmigaOS to do that stuff, but doing that on an achitecture that can't handle the task is the source of most bloat. Try to get AmigaOS to do the things people expect of XP, and you'll see the bloat and cruft pile up in a hurry.
Bloodline: I would suggest that one should take an exising *nix and then host the opensource amiga OS compatible clone on that, in a similar way to what Apple have done wither thier OS
UNIX has plenty of problems, but most people who think it's a big, hairy mess don't know anything about it. Clip out all the legacy support for 20-year-old programs that nobody uses anymore, and UNIX can actually be very clean and simple. There's a reason so many embedded OSes use UNIX-like architecture, despite the limited hardware available.
It would be nice if people stopped all this dynamic library crap and went back to command-line tools like they used to use. Why rewrite all the tools that are already built into the OS? UNIX could really use a new shell and desktop environment. That's what I would like Amiga to be.
Koaftder: I just dont think the amiga brand carries much value anymore in relation to branding, at least here in the US that is.
Definately not in the US. Most other coders I know have no clue what an Amiga is, and I'm not taking about 15-year-olds, here.
Koaftder: For the amiga brand to carry weight now, they will have to put out something insane, like an optical processor clocked at 10Ghz or a quantum computing based math coprocessor.
Or off-the-shelf parts that get the job done!
The only uses for 4Ghz processors are for serious graphic/video workstations, servers, and game machines. Clip out the entertainment software, and a basic economy PC is more than enough to keep people happy. The problem is, people can't live without games. Computers don't make people's lives easier; they mostly exist for amusement. :-)
Really, what's the point in Mesa3D support if the base graphics card is a Radeon 9200? My iMac has that, and the visual quality sucks for 3D, let alone the speed. That hardware is best used for the GUI, so we can dump all the crazy layers crap. Still, Hyperion does 2D for its graphics. Now, we've got all these new hand-held systems with early GPUs. What now?
Koaftder: If a company did that, it wouldnt matter weather they called it amiga or something new now would it, as it would stand on it's own anyway.
Amiga is never going to stand out on the grounds of technical competence without a freakin' lot of money. Both Amiga and Hyperion don't seem to have much of an idea of what to do with their creations, other than license it for use on gadgets that don't do that much other than take notes, send messages, and play mini-games.
