Buying SAM 460 to replace my PC

[Duce]

They all use standard USB keyboards and mice.  I have a Logitech G 19 keyboard and G 9 mouse on my SAM.  Any ATX PSU will do, any SATA HD and optical drive will work just find.  Root around locally and find good buys on the PSU, HD and opt drive.

If you plan to use the SAM for playing legacy games or running legacy applications without a hitch, and without an emulator - you will be disappointed.  Just a disclaimer - I had a fellow buy a SAM 440 after I told him how much I enjoyed mine, only to have him curse me out when he got it he tried to one click run programs from 1987 on it and only got reaper messages and lockups.  A SAM is by no means a replacement for a A1200 if you are into gaming or just "expecting all Amiga SW to work" - other emu platforms are cheaper, or just use legacy HW.

As for boot times, my Win7 PC boots just as quick as my SAM with OS4.1u4, both running SSDs.

[Duce]

Yep, was clear on the PC replacement issue - just wanted to make sure I didn't give any glowing endorsements ever again on the SAM's, only to have someone let down when they buy their own.  Saves me getting shouted at again by PM when someone finds the new gen machines don't run legacy apps out of the box, hehe.

I enjoy mine a great deal for what it is, however I could never use it for a PC replacement.  After trying the new Timberwolf release as well as OWB again recently, the browser situation on OS4 is getting much better but there's still a fair bit of online stuff I do that doesn't work correctly, or otherwise at performances I find acceptable for mundane day to day tasks (on the SAM).  My requirements are quite unique however, where some of my business dealings require using very half assed coded intranet type corporate pages that were likely coded initially for IE 5.

YMMV with a beefier system like the 460, the 440ep with 512 MB ram and onboard graphics like my SAM 440ep is, it is obviously a far less powerful machine and you should definitely notice the extra grunt the 460 packs.

[Duce]

Aye - the same thing that makes you mostly immune to stuff like viruses and malware on more obscure platforms, it also turns around and bites you in the rear due to general usability in regards to the stuff we expect out of modern computers.  The SW just isn't there.

[Duce]

Did not mean to dissuade you from any NG Amiga purchase by any means - as I said, I myself use a SAM as my sole Amiga lately.  But I simply couldn't recommend one as a PC replacement unless your needs were rudimentary to the level of "I check my hotmail and listen to a few MP3's and that's all I need a computer for".  I love my SAM for what it is, but a PC replacement it simply isn't.

My recommendation, honestly - keep your eyes open for a PPC Mac that is compatible with MorphOS.  Heck, around my parts people give the things away.  Download MorphOS demo, give it a whirl and if you enjoy it it can be registered.  If not, you still have a low cost Mac running OS X that is capable of pretty much anything you need it to do.  Or run Linux on it if you dislike OS X or MorphOS, or simply sell the thing off.  Mac Mini's can be had for $100 any day of the week.

In a perfect world, Hyperion would port OS4 to the old PPC Mac's and we could all explore OS4 at a far lower price point, but that won't happen anytime soon.  It's a terrific OS that is locked to extremely costly hardware at the moment.

[Duce]

AmigaClassicsRule have you considered the upcoming Arcade FPGA =) - you can put a real 060 on it.

^^ This.  I am eagerly looking forward to the FPGArcade with the add on board, seems the ultimate solution.

AGA Amiga on the FPGArcade itself - check

Ethernet and '060 on the daughterboard - check

Small footprint, low power usage, excellent price compared to Ebaying a bunch of old kit and cobbling together an A1200 - check

Codebase/firmware that will always be worked on and improved - check

[Duce]

@ Danwood:

Yeah, boot times have gotten longer, sadly.  I chalk it up to the new AmigaOS 4.1 bootup "splashscreen" that came in u3?,  I think.  It literally is prolonging the boot process time wise by like 75%+.

Anyone know if this can be turned off?  It's a real pain in the ass, the machine sans splashscreen could have been cold booted 3 times with a SSD in the time you sit waiting on the splashscreen, if the splashscreen was optional.  I don't recall seeing any switch options or ways to disable it in the docs, but I could have very well missed something.

[Duce]

Thanks Hans, I'll try to disable the boot image entirely with your MODULE Kickstart/bootimage advice.

Yeh, I am sure that's what the delay is - when it sits there for 7 seconds with just the splashscreen showing, I can't think of what else it would be.  Nothing else has changed, and the machine actually stays on the splashscreen longer than the entire boot process from cold to usable status ever did previously.  It got much worse with the latest update it seems.