How much would it cost to port AmigaOS to x64?

[dreamcast270mhz]

It obviously costs too much of Hyperion's time, as there is yet to be any signs of it. I think AROS serves that field already, lets leave the others to their own cuppa tea shall we? I have no desire to see it, because I can see this happening with OS4:

• OS4 offers very little over OS X, Windows, Linux or any other alternative OS for the average computer user, plus the fact it is a paid for OS, means it will flop in the market, as it is over-saturated.
• Then, the lack of money means the developers will be unable to pay themselves, causing massive delays in hardware support, ported applications and such.  
• This will doom its chances of being among the norm. In other words, it benefits nobody in the long term

I think that custom hardware is part of the appeal, personally, to most users of the OS. I think its best chance is for it to be solicited to a game system manufacturer such as MS, Nintendo, etc. and having them use it as a base for a computer/game system/media system hybrid

[dreamcast270mhz]

I just roll with Ubuntu or Debian when I have installed linux, but I have to say DragonFly BSD is looking up from here, it has some Amiga inspiration apparently.

And Digiman, don't mindlessly attack the PPC standard with fallacies. It has its flaws, yes, but RISC processors at the same speed as an X86 are far better, especially if you consider the contemporary NetBurst architecture, it runs circles around it. My G4, runs circles around my friend's P4HT at 3 Ghz. The NetBurst is dated, yes but tis a proof that x86 isn't always foolproof. OTOH, my mini C2D does decode my BluRay rips better, but granted that it has faster versions of the decoding software I use to decode the matroshka files

[dreamcast270mhz]

I don't think OS4 has any viability on most X64 hardware, but I do think if we put it on something like Genesi's ARM boards, then it would be very viable as it would then be on low cost hardware which is powerful enough for most work.

[dreamcast270mhz]

Hmm? I got my prescott core P4 Dell in '04, so thats eight years. And thats pretty sweet there, but since Netburst wasnt too efficient with its pipelines it doesnt surprise me.

[dreamcast270mhz]

I know someone whose a dev for DFBSD, and he entertained some q's for me about the OS in late '08. Can't remember his name for the life of me, but he lives in C'ville VA

[dreamcast270mhz]

AMD is a pretty good company however, and I like their stuff over much of the stuff Intel is pumping out

[dreamcast270mhz]

Theres more to porting it to x64 than ARM. Using the i7 as an example, you have several hurdles to jump:

OS4 doesnt support SMP, so only one of an i7's cores is used, limiting its usefulness.
Endianess will have to be addressed, when porting the OS you will have to rewrite any ASM code that may be present (If any)
OS4 doesnt support 64-bit, and since 64-bit instructions use twice as much RAM, it will be grossly inefficient
Locking the system to certain machines (like OS X is) will increase compatibility but cripple market penetration, as we are in a recession and people dont always have cash for yet another system, especiallly not an i7 system
Leaving it open to any x64 machines will cost much more manpower to ensure compatibility


Plus, AmigaOS4 has little to offer over current alternative OSes for x86. Comparing it to ZETA/BeOS/Haiku, for example, you will see more x86 native apps for it (since BeOS had only a short PPC run) compared to OS4, which will require its porting before any applications can be compiled/tested

And whose gonna pay for an alternative OS with inferior hardware support, that they have to relearn and with much less infrastructure than most other OSes on the market. The Amiga community? We are so divided I doubt you'd even get the number of current OS4 users,  many of which will be angry that their hardware is no longer supported.

You seem like your mind is made up Digiman, but you know what they say, the empty can rattles the most, good luck professing your beliefs, but i feel they fall on deaf ears

[dreamcast270mhz]

I think we should just make an ARM port to something simple like the beagleboard, because its low cost, low footprint and open source. We already have an open source Amiga OS, AROS (which I do not care for, but many others do, thats fine). The thing is that OS4 has too many challenges on x86, on ARM, is a lot less and it would be more economical for us users.

If you happen to get loaded enough to buy OS4 then you may do with it what you wish, but until then we must take what we are give or not at all.