Why should I use Amiga?

[SamuraiCrow]

Somebody said OS4 is free but it isn't.  It's closed-source commercial software for PowerPC.  The most promising hardware platform to come into being recently for it is the SAM440EP but it isn't available for end-user consumption yet.

The pipe device is a lot different on the AmigaOS.  It has a filename so if you want to maintain multiple streams of information you can.

run list >pipe:listoutput #?
more pipe:listoutput

This script listed above will pipe the output of the list command to the more filter.  The run command causes the list command to run in a separate process.  The #? filter is the equivalent of the * of UNIX/Linux.  It means match multiple characters of an unknown number.

If you want multiuser support you'll have to write it yourself using shell scripts.

[SamuraiCrow]

Your best bet for running classic Amiga software (version 3.x) is to buy the Amiga Forever emulator package.  It has a live boot based on Linux that automatically runs AmigaOS under EUAE.  You should be able to run it on your Linux box from there.  If you want to have a real classic Amiga system, watch Ebay for an Amiga 1200 system.  It uses totally custom architecture so you can't just build one yourself.

As for NEW Amiga hardware, you'll have to wait until the SAM440EP comes out or get a MorphOS system running on the Efika motherboard from Genesi.  (MorphOS is a spin-off of AmigaOS that uses many of the same features.)

-edit-
If you want multiuser support, you'll have to use the requestchoice command from the AmigaDOS shell and place your custom user-startup settings in the s:startup-sequence file.

If you want more AROS information, check out the forums on AROS-Exec.org

[SamuraiCrow]

AmigaOS 4 is almost to the release stage but won't likely be released until there is available hardware to run it on.  The SAM440EP is currently being mass-produced for customers capable of buying huge quantities.  When that's done it will be released for the common masses.  It will likely come out sometime this year but hardware for OS4 users has been difficult to come by in the past.  I have a MicroA1-c which has a prerelease of AmigaOS 4 but to get the final version, you'll have to wait until it is published.

AmigaDOS is the shell.  It is the underlying command prompt for administration purposes.  And as for the requestchoice command, it just pops up a requester with buttons on it and returns the number of the button you pressed.  It allows you to select which startup script to execute.

The ability to do multi-user filesystems has been available from the start, but AmigaOS filesystems never implemented that feature (with the possible exception of MuFS, a third-party add on).  You'll be able to access all of the files regardless of what startup script you select.  This would be like having root access on all of the accounts.  :-(

[SamuraiCrow]

Hans_ wrote:
Yes the hardware situation is bizarre. Right now, Amiga Inc. insists that only licensed PowerPC hardware is allowed to run Amiga OS4. Amiga Inc. and Genesi hate each other for historical reasons and won't cooperate with each other. Therefore the Pegasos sadly won't run Amiga OS4, even though there's no technical reason why it can't. It would be fairly trivial for them to write the necessary drivers/bootstrap code for those machines.

Currently Amiga OS4 runs on the Amigaone hardware (I have one of these) which is no longer available for purchase. It will be available to classic Amiga owners (such as the A1200/A4000) that have PowerPC accelerators plugged in.

Just to clarify, the Pegasos 1 and 2 are discontinued hardware, and the Pegasos 3 only supports PowerPC Linux due to multicore processor usage.  AmigaOS doesn't support SMP currently, nor does MorphOS.

[SamuraiCrow]

@Hans
The Pegasos 3 has/will have dual PowerPC 970MP processors (two cores each).  And I don't know when it will ship.

@Anon123

The bootstrap code would require that the Pegasos 2 have a licence to run AmigaOS 4.  AmigaOS 4 is not published in its final form yet.  And, as I mentioned earlier, AmigaOS 4 is a closed-source, commercial operating system.