Amiga OS4 on old (PPC) Macs

[Fizza]

motorollin wrote:

Faerytale wrote:
"It's not piracy, if you buy a program it's yours to do with as you please so long as you don't distribute it to others"

You never "own" a software you buy. You only buy a license that gives you the right to use it.

You dont have the right to do whatever you want with it.
You have to agree to the license agreement of the specified software.

The EULA to which you are referring is *not* legally binding. An end user has no legal obligation to run software they buy only on the hardware the vendor wants him to. I have purchased a legal copy of OS4, and I am legally entitled to run it on whatever hardware I choose, and there's nothing AInc or anyone else can do about it.

Also, if somebody releases a patch for OS4 to allow it to run on non-Amiga hardware, then this is not piracy, since piracy refers to copyright theft, not the modification of software for which one owns a license.
--
moto

This is the bottom line people, forget the hypothetical bullcrap. If anyone wants to make overpriced and underpowered accelerator cards, then let them stand up and speak for themselves while something actually gets done.

The code is a third party modification or hack, like MagicWB or Executive - jeez at one time, people were all for hacks to make the OS do neat stuff..

If I buy OS4 then it's no-one's business if I manage to get it running on a Mac but my own. The license is valid because I paid for the software, just like paying for Amiga Forever enabled you to run an emulation of Amiga Hardware, on whatever hardware you could get it to run on, and a licensed version of Workbench on top of that. Do you think anyone cared whether OS3.5 was bought for Amiga Forever or a real Amiga?? I highly doubt it. And if it needed a Kickstart image, then I'd go out and get one of those too, just as I did with Amiga Forever. This needs to happen and it could be the final resolution to this stupid situation. There's software, but no hardware.. give me a break, get it on a Mac already!!!!!

Believe it that I would have an i-Mac & OS4.0 for Christmas if this was to happen - and severely tempted to retire my dual Ghz G4 Quicksilver to Amiga OS when that is eventually replaced, and I have a feeling I won't be the only one.

I also believe that once this takes off, or goes viral, it might speed up some sort of resolution to this legal mess that might not take another damn 13 years - and I'm so looking forward to another 13 years of that, not. Unless of course, people are afraid the soap opera will finish? Are Amiga folk just soap addicts now? I hope not!

If the Minimig could work, and it should, then there's no reason for this not to either.

PS; I do understand the licence doesn't grant the purchaser anything more than running the software, so the purchaser can make no claim upon copyright or 'ownership' of the actual code itself. To make the car analogy again, if I want to chop up a Ford Focus and make it look like a Ferrari on crack, then it's my perogative, although I might have damaged any warranty claim I might have with Ford, but if I own a factory, I can't go out and reproduce Ford Focus' and start flogging them at half price because I bought one legit. Anyone making a legal threat saying you can't run OS4.0 on a Mac if you get it work is having a proper laugh, and I'd be interested to see anyone issuing cease and desist letters to purchasers of it.

[Fizza]

Agafaster wrote:
I seem to remember AIncs reasoning (back when we still liked 'em) that they couldnt do a version for PowerMacs cos of apple never being likely to release the info required to not do a hack, which is effectively what the Linux crew did to get linux on powermacs. now, Linux is community software, and AInc are (for want of a better word !) a company, which would leave them wide open for being sued should they market the technology to run an alternate commercial OS on a closed platform. also, it wouldnt be in Apples best interest to have a better OS (as at the time, OS4 was better than their offering, natch !) on THEIR platform.

upshot: technically, very doable. legally ? potential bl00dy minefield for everybody but Apple.

I was always on the understanding that the hack would come from a third party, either shareware or whateverelseware. If so, then there would be no legal ramifications for Amiga Inc, Hyperion or Apple, although I'm not sure why Apple would be bothered, fair play OS4 is nice, but I'd imagine if Apple were worried right now about their OS being thrown off the machine, it would be Linux, or even Windows that they'd be concerned about. Amiga's probably not on their radar whatsoever.

Basically some cunning person(s) come up with the way to get it running, and we all just go out and buy boxes of OS4 and take it from there. Although I guess, the main concern now is whether OS4 Classic can be made to run, and/or the availability of the 'normal' OS4, is that still being sold?

[Fizza]

A1260 wrote:
please close this threat i dont want to hear more whining about os4.0 on mac again or else i will explode!!!  :madashell:

Please make sure you have a camcorder running when it occurs and get the next of kin to upload to youtube. thanks!  :lol:

To all those linking this to Hyperion, Amiga & Apple, and all combinations thereof, you're missing the point. As someone pointed out, if a 'third party' were to supply the code to make it boot, then it's none of anyone's business but your own. The Classic bundle is the only sticking point, but that would only require a proof of concept, and if someone were to consider making OS4 on Mac hardware a reality, that's probably the best place to start.

[Fizza]

issarad wrote:
I'd love to have OS4 on the iMac I just picked up locally for $40.  BTW, it's a G3 350mhz, 512mb ram, 30gb drive, slot load cd-rom model.   the idea of OS4 on it makes me giddy... It's a shame, you can barely pick up a stock A500 for the same price I got the mac for.

Forgive my creative quoting, but this is exactly it, it's entirely doable, it just needs someone who has the talent to step up and deliver. To answer the 'no apps', I'll say that you won't probably get Adobe interested any time soon but having a great OS on cheap hardware is an excellent way to kickstart (no pun intended) development as it makes the initial cost almost negligible barring the cost of the OS. Besides if you needed Dreamweaver/Photoshop etc.. you could always maybe dualboot? Or even a sandbox OS X install, it's is running on a Mac after all! The big fish (Adobe etc.) can wait, the tide needs to turn first and IMHO the best shot of this is AOS4.0 on cheap, available, and powerful PowerPC hardware.. hmm.. Q.E.D.

[Fizza]

dammy wrote:

This boot CD is useless without an actual copy of OS4. It just lets you boot OS4 itself.

Guess if there is no OS4 on ftp or bittorrent, it's all safe. :-D

Dammy

This type of reply is baffling unless viewed from a very twisted perspective. Basically, you're saying that wanting OS4 to run on a Mac is a bad thing as an increase in demand for OS4 will cause it to be  pirated, and therefore those who want to see OS4 go somewhere are basically just encouraging piracy? Or better yet, those who want to put run it on Macs will definitely not buy a copy of OS4 and are pirates themselves already... talk about judge & jury. My honest opinion is that these types of voices have prevailed far too long in this saga and it's only gotten us nowhere, I think it's time to see these people for who they are, I can't imagine this person, or someone who would agree with him wants anything to be done at all and really have gotten naysaying down to a fine art, or profession. I'm guessing that if Dammy had any input, Shapeshifter would never have happened way back when...

Is it possible that OS4 would be pirated? Of course it is, but even if it's pirated at 50%, at least that 50% of selling something to a market rather than 100% of nothing! I'm certainly not condoning piracy whatsoever, but given the choice I'd rather Microsoft had Dammy's viewpoint and not released Windows for fear of someone pirating it lest it be successful..

As for other legalities (barring Amiga specific ones), I can only say Bootcamp, if Apple is enabling purchasers of Intel Macs to dual boot into Windows Vista natively (one wonders how much MS helped them make that happen), then I can't see how they could kick up a fuss about their obsolete PowerPC hardware being booted into another OS either, in fact they might be glad to be rid of any remaining G4/G5 hardware they have...

[Fizza]

A1260 wrote:
this is a niche market and a hobby os the companies behind it need to make a living you know, this is not the way to do it. while you other here dont care and think this will be the solution to shortage of suitable hardware. for a little time it may be true but then these few mac's that run this will be old and very popular on ebay, we will again have ridiculous high prices and people start whining. as this aint enough there will not be any new updates of the aos because you killed of the business for these small companies like hyperion. what then? you ever thing of it?... so continue with your greedy ways of wanting everything free and act like children. when aos4.0 is dead its your fault, period!.

  :-x

Absolute rubbish, Amiga wasn't always a niche you know! Who knows where it would lead having a viable option for running (legally) OS4 on Mac hardware, there's tons of it out there, and tons of it that people might be interested in putting to use, which all adds up to sales for an OS vendor willing to exploit it. I'm sure if it was even a reasonable success within the Amiga/geek, or even Linux community I'm sure that would put some money in the coffers for Amiga Inc/Hyperion to develop Amiga OS further. I can't see dual G5 machines being obsolete in the next three to four years. Do you want Amiga OS to be successful again, or are you content being a pseudo legal analyst instead? If you were such a good one, I'm surprised that you think it's wise to presume that people who want Amiga OS to run on Mac hardware want it done for free.