When are AOS4 released?

[Jethro_Tull]

Hi Ikir, as an Amiga prodigal son, having returned to the scene with the purchase of a second hand A1200, I'm now tempted to upgrade it to be able to run OS4.  

I know pretty well it'll never acheive the performance of a modern A1 mainboard, but would a Blizzard PPC200MHz board be enough to tinker with OS4 and maybe develop some stuff?  In your opinion would OS4 be useable on such a configuration?  I've seen the video on intuitionbase, but would also like the optinion of soemone who's seen it 'live' and maybe got a chance to use it!

Thanks in advanve
Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

Thanks Mr.Freiden for your quick and clear reply.  Thanks to you I've made up my mind to upgrade my A1200 to be able to run OS4.  I'll be the first in line to buy what will surely be an excellent product and a breath of fresh air for the Amiga community!  

One last question, to dispell any remaining rumours about OS4, will it require a hardware dongle or special ROM chips to run on classic Amigas?  Will Kickstart 3.0 suffice?  I'm also asking this to make things clear for ALL classic Amiga owners who are still in doubt and confused, thanks to all rumours flying around!   Hopefully the release of OS4 will encourage those with a suitable machine to dust it down and experience fun, hassle free computing once again.  It'll also, hopefully, spearhead the release (or re-release) of PPC accelerators for classic Amigas.

Thanks again, it's definitly a unique experience to have the author in person of your favourite operating system answer your querries on-line!

Cheers,
Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

Thanks for the links Ikir.  I already knew about this though.  Don't you think the timing of ACK's news submission was quite peculiar though, right after the Dragon ColdFire busboard / Accelerator was announced.  

The last thing I want to do is spread FUD.  But claiming you've got a prototype running Linux BUT fail to post any photos and detailed specs is suspicious to say the least.

If I'd manage to build such a board, I would be over the moon and post photos, regular bulletins and more all over the Amiga forums.  Oliver, the DIY Coldfire guy, has posted photos of ALL his boards thoughout various prototyping stages, even though they're still 'work-in-progress'.

On the other hand, ACK supposedly has a board at a much more advanced stage, running Linux and all, but just submits a dry announcement and after drumming up tremendous enthusiasm in the community, fails to follow it up with anything for weeks!

In my opinion, I think this ACK bloke acts in bona-fede and posted the news to counter the Dragon Cold-Fire board announcement, that could've damaged OS4 and A1 sales.  Having said that, it seems ACK has a very good reputation in the Amiga community while on the other hand the Dragon guys (Elbox) are known to advertise vapourware which fails to materialise for years and years (Yes Duke Nukem Forever is being developed exclusivly for the Shark PPC).  So I know who of the two I'd rather beleive!  

Please don't misunderstand me, I wish that ACK's products exist!  The specifications are simply an Amiga 1200 owner's wildest dreams come true!  I'd buy one in a heartbeat if they're resonably priced!  

I'm not counting on it, but I'd be gladly proven wrong on this one.

Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

Your point about Linux is very interesting Kronos.  I imagined the reference to Linux to be a regular PPC distro booting on an A1200 with graphics front-end and all.  So I pictured the board as being almost ready.

However you put this in a whole new perspective.  

Of course an embedded bare-bones Linux compiled just for that microcontroller, sans GUI front-end, would be orders of magnitude easier to run, and would say nothing about the state of the A1200 board.  While I hope you're wrong, I fear you're very close to the truth here.

Can anyone who knows ACK, or better still ACK himself, come out and be honest (brutally honest if need be) about this.  The least we need is another Elbox & Co. taking Amgans for ride.

Finally, I'm guilty of deviating this thread from it's main subject, which is OS4 being released for classic Amigas with PPC boards.  

And indeed it's a very positive thread since Rogue himself just confirmed that OS4 for classic Amigas will be released at about the same time as the A1 version! He also confirmed that all that's needed is a PPC board!  And OS4 beta testers with hands-on experience stated that the classic Amiga version already runs very well on a lowly A1200 with 166MHz Blizzard PPC. :-D

So, I'm now busy scavenging for a PPC card to run OS4, and enjoy a better, faster Amiga and maybe even develop some cool applications. :angel:

Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

@Rogue

Well, you must admit though, that Kronos depicted an awfully realistic scenario, which would explain the lack of more concrete details while stopping short of labelling ACK a liar.  :inquisitive:

We all agree that it would be far nicer if we could buy brand new accelerators for our Amigas, rather then hunt down second hand parts and pray they'll give us a few more years of service.  The sad truth is that the Amiga market is so small nobody with the right knowledge and resources is willing to develop such a board.

A few months ago, someone had the blueprints for an A600 030 accelerator, and was testing the water for an evenutal re-release. A1200 PPC boards might also re-surface in this way, maybe a revised Blizzard without the 680X0 CPU.

Hopefully, the release of OS4 will build enough momentum for this to happen.

Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

@Rogue

First of all, I hope I was not misunderstood. I'm not calling anyone a liar, on the contrary, I wrote that in my opinion what Kronos wrote made sense without clashing with ACK's announcement!  

BBRV though is a different matter entirly! In this thread we've discussed OS4 for Classic Amigas, and received good news.  We've also discussed in a civil manner the existence (or lack of) of two Amiga products.  And again, the discusstion was informative and usefull.

But if we'll throw BBRV in the pot things will degenerate swiftly!  I don't need to tell you what I think of this guy's actions Rogue.  The endless flamefests, the list of people ruined and deluded, the downfall of MorphOS speak for themselves.  The fact that I'm asking you about OS4 for my Amiga, and the fact that I'm searching for a PPC board to run it on should give you a clear answer to where BBRV can stick his Peg-III without resorting to strong, offensive words.

Since you're so close to ACK, tell him he's got at least one customer for his upcoming board .  The discussion in this thread reflects the old adage, 'once bitten, twice shy'! The Amiga community has had more then it's fair share of bites.  But rest assured no one is condemning ACK!

Thanks again Rogue
Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

@Kronos

Please pay attention to where you lead this thread.  While you accuse others of trolling you're derailing this discussion into another BBRV versus Amiga flame war.  I agreed with you when trying to explain the events leading to ACK's accelerator, and I agree with you now when you say no one called ACK a liar.  

However I totally disagree with you when you claim Rogue is trolling. How can he counter your argument if he's got nothing to do with this blessed PPC board?  He simply stated that ACK is a good friend and a trusted workmate.  In Rogue's opinion ACK wouldn't deceive us.  However, he was also fair stating clearly that he didn't see the hardware running himself.  This is simply etchical conduct on his part.  While he trusts ACK, he cannot vouch for something he didn't see personally!

I also disagree with you regarding BBRV and the Pegasus boards.  Rogue mentioned the Peg-III not the II, so it's no use trumpeting the Peg-II's eventual release. More so when this occured WAY behind schedule, and AFTER the Peg-III was announced! The Peg-III was a pie in the sky.  A huge custard pie in fact, which has fallen flat on Mr.Buck's face. :lol:

Unless you've seen the Peg-III working and know of a warehouse full of these boards ready to be delivered, it's useless mentioning the Peg-III again, isn't it?

If we must continue to discuss BBRV and his actions, even though it's been done ad-nauseum, open a new thread and I'll gladly reply over there.  Let's not turn every discussion, every topic into a flaming fight, shall we?   :-)

Thanks Kronos
Jethro Tull  

[Jethro_Tull]

Thanks for your kind words Argo.  Please keep in mind that English in not my mother language, so sometimes my mails can sound more aggressive then I intended.  

Hopefully ACK will intervene personally and clear the whole PPC card issue himself! BBRV's extravagant announcement of the Peg-III, at the end, is irrelevant, and dosen't justify Elbox, ACK or anyone else doing the same. Two wrongs don't make a right.

[Jethro_Tull]

@HopperJF

First of all why draw in Hyperion, when Rogue has a clear disclaimer stating the opinions in his posts are his own?  Also, he's not slamming a product, since there's no product to speak of!

I think Rogue was simply frustrated that so many posts doubted his friend's accelerator board while the Peg-III anouncement went by uncriticised.  I think actually the Peg-III was simply ignored in the long run because it was so increadibly far fetched and highly unlikely to be true, as it turned out to be the case.

I clicked on Rogue's link and a lot of users actually did question the existance and viability of such a board.  More so when there was no freely available chipset for the CPU.  They also derided the timing of BBRV's post. Proclaiming the release of the Peg-III when the vastly inferior but eagerly awaited Peg-II was still unreleased was simply ludicrous.  BBRV shot himself in the foot and lost both sales and credibility with this faux-pass.

Also, please explain why is it unprofessional for someone to slam a rival?  When (a)the slam's totaly true (b)the other rival (BBRV) did much the same, way more often, did so in a highly unethical way using lies, deceit, fearmongering and plain B.S.?

I agree though that Rogue should not have brought BBRV in this thread.  Nobody in here ever mentioned BBRV.  And nobody said that BBRV's behaviour was better (or worse) then Rogue's, ACK's or anyone else. BBRV's actions are coming back to haunt him. He's managed to earn eveyone's spite and his castle of cards is falling on it's own.

But at the end Rogue's point on the Peg-III was spot on and 101% true.  No amount of beating around the bush will change that!

@Cecilia
Well said!! Let's move on!  

Haven't you ever been tempted to get an AGA machine and join in the fun?  Myself I'd love to get an A2000 but they're difficult to come by :-(  How about a nice list detailing what you've managed to stuff in your big case miggies?  :-) Would make interesting reading!

[Jethro_Tull]

@Lavo,
Good question!  While we're at it, can a Beta tester or two shed any light on the following;

a) Are there any B-Vision drivers for OS4, if yes, are they PPC native or still 68k?  Can you switch between AGA chipset and B-Vision from the OS, or better still, use both at the same time?

b) Does OS4 support the Paula chip, or just AHI sound-cards?

c) How's the hard disk speed using the regular IDE adaptor?

d) How responsive is the system in general use?

e) Has anyone tried using the bundled GCC compiler?  How's compilation time, and how's final code size compated to 68k?

f) I know that DVD playback is out of the question, but what about regular VCD (not super VCD)?  

g) What are realistic memory requirements for OS4 on the classic Amiga?

Thanks for reading through this extensive list.  Hopefully some of the beta testers out there have tried out most of the stuff listed (that's what I would do anyway)!  Finally, I'd like to say I really envy you guys, toying around with OS4 while we're waiting desperatly for it's release :-)

[Jethro_Tull]

To All:
Thanks for your overwhelming response!  Very much appreciated!
Another question! (Aaargh!) how much would you expect to pay for a Blizzard PPC Card in good working condition. Seeing that this is the only card which is capable of running OS4, it would be silly going for anything else, wouldn't it?  

I've just enquired on Amibench and the prices were exorbitant!  The asking price for a 200MHz PPC 040-25MHz was 425 Euros, more then an AMD64 3000+, NForce Mainboard + 1Gb RAM!!  I know pricing in Amigaland is somewhat pecuiliar, but an old 200MHz board for 425 Euros is just crazy!!

@Patrik
So you're suggesting I should follow the SCSI route?  If so, seeing that most of the old PPC accelerators had SCSI anyway, where can I get hold of a SCSI hard disk?  I haven't seen any in ages!  Buying a second hand hard disk is definitly not a good idea in my books, so much that can go wrong!

Would adding a FastIDE or similar product be worth it?  Or is it simply a major expense for a marginal improvement?

Thanks to All, Cheerio!
Jethro tull

[Jethro_Tull]

Hi again;

@EntilZha
Will the rtg.lib bug be solved before OS4's release?  Allowing B-Vision to work nativly?  And is GCC so slow to the point of being unuseable?  Can you give us a rough idea of compiles for known open source apps/modules?

@x56h34
You've mentioned you've got another accelerator for sale.  Can you post more details please?  I am willing to pay $250 dollars if it's in good condition and has SCSI.

This is really an interesting thread, hope the discussion keeps going since it is very informative.

Cheerio
Jethro Tull

[Jethro_Tull]

@x56h34
What are the specs of your card then, and how much do you want to sell the card immediatly?  Maybe the seller was lucky to sell that card for 280!  It dosen't mean luck will repeat itself!!

@Patrik
Do you know if LVD SCSI is compatible with the interface on Blizzard accelerators?

@All;
to anyone reading this thread who's got a PPC card for sale, please reply here or send a message!


Cheerio