How does AmigaDE on PocketPC work?

[Ohno]

@Pilgrim

PocketPC (PPC)

I hope you didn't mix up the term PPC (as in processor). PPC is the processor the next generation of AmigaOS is going to run on (same processor as the Mac uses).

Then there is a seperate movement that focuses on mobile devices, which is done through the DE (Digital Environment), also known as Amiga-Anywhere. One of the target devices is pocket PC, but also Symbian and theoretically anything else as well.

I'm curious, what sort of advantages are there to designing apps for the PPC on the AmigaDE platform? What are the disadvantages? How does AmigaDE platform compare to running apps in native code

Advantages are the bigger target market, but also the chances for bedroom programmers to get into developing games again (on the desktop it will be hard for a developer to get his/her games released). Also a lot of other apps can be usefull on the road. AmigaDE performs very well compared to running apps in native code, since you can program the apps toward a virtual processor. On load-time the apps are converted to native (not interpreted runtime as in java). This means loading the app takes a little longer, but the end result will be very fast.


@Lando

Advantages? I can't think of any... Theoretically you've got a wider market to sell to, as there are far more PocketPC owners than Amiga owners out there, but in reality sales have been very bad, there are no more than a a couple of dozen (shareware-quality) games available, and there hasn't been any new development on AmigaDE for many months. It's pretty much dead.

While I agree with you with the fact that there are not that many titles out there, I have to note that you are mistaken about the 'no new developments'-part. DE is not dead or even dying and a lot of things are happening.

Regards,

Onno

[Ohno]

@seer

Can you tell a bit more ? (I know you're under NDA, but some snippets ??)

Hmm.. well, looking at your sig I'm not sure it wise  :-D

Everything you say will be misquoted and used against you.

Ohh well... Patrick Roberts just added a very usefull and powerfull audio-library to the Amiga-Anywhere environment, ami2d is continuesly improving, I'm working on a vector graphics lib and on three more projects. (Jami, Go For Goal and a new graphics adventure). And a lot more stuff is happening at Amiga Inc. And it isn't all just Amiga-Anywhere related either as some people claim. They really do work very hard in a lot of different areas and I like the things I see happening.

Regards,

Onno

[Ohno]

ThanX, do hope to see them succeed.. and I hope they are going to start telling the current userbase (a bit) more about the other stuff (the different areas), but I guess they won't for some time..

I agree with you. I think more information should go out as well, but the people that make the decisions at Amiga Inc. have decided otherwise. At least the SDA-group gets a bit more information and we actually see a lot of work being done. I really think they're gonna pull it off. Despite all the crap the 'community' has thrown at them they are still highly motivated and on top of that have a true and ambitious vision for the future. Not too talkative to the outside though  :-D