How is OS4 ?

[Karlos]

I switched to MorphOS on a G4/1.5Ghz Mac Mini and I'm happy now. Most of my friends who are still active amiga users have jumped to MorphOS too. We can enjoy a decent computer right now without waiting for vapourware. Try to watch HD video on those Sam440. Try to watch youtube directly in your browser on a Sam440. With Fab's OWB even on an old Peg1 with g3/600 youtube videos are played smoothly fullscreen without the need of 3rd party apps like getvideo/tubexx.

If you are interested on OS4 get a second hand Peg2.

Shouldn't you be comparing the Sam440 with the Efika, rather than the Peg1? Bit of an unfair contest otherwise, I would have thought.

[Karlos]

@tmhg

I thought the slowest Sam ran at ~400MHz ish?

[Karlos]

since Peg2 is already cheaper than Sam440 and both run OS4 I think it's fair. Efika can be bought new but doesn't run OS4. With Peg2 the user can run both OS4 and MorphOS.

No, this comparison is not fair. Your comparison was on performance. You said:

Try to watch HD video on those Sam440. Try to watch youtube directly in your browser on a Sam440. With Fab's OWB even on an old Peg1 with g3/600 youtube videos are played smoothly fullscreen without the need of 3rd party apps like getvideo/tubexx.

You were thus comparing the performance of an OS running on a 400MHz class G2 system with a rival OS running on a 600MHz G3 class machine.

Any way you look at it, that is a stilted comparison.

[Karlos]

I don't think this changes the number of plug-ins available for Firefox.

Varthall

I just installed the web developer extension for giggles...

Probably not a great idea since it's toolbar menus don't use keyboard shortcuts for initial activation.

[Karlos]

I'd just say that bashing the firefox port at this stage is a bit silly. It's still in the alpha stage. When it's at least beta, then let's see how it stacks up.

As it stands, I expected it to be a lot worse than it is. I've not actually had it crash yet. The main issues on my machine seem to be based around the user interface, rather than anything else.

[Karlos]

Out of interest, what is it? :-)

Use a gecko based browser, I assume.

[Karlos]

In the final analysis, it's always nice to have a choice. People prefer one browser over another for all kinds of reasons, so having more browsers to choose from can't be a bad thing.

[Karlos]

@Karlos

No they just feel like it

No, seriously. I'm sure some of the first machines were 400MHz. I could be wrong.

[Karlos]

I find it a bit sad (and funny tbh) that today we still have this schism, really.

How is OS4? It's like OS3.x only a lot faster and with improved features.
How is MorphOS? It's like OS3.x only a lot faster and with improved features.
How is AROS? It's like OS3.x only a lot faster and with improved features.


Which one you use is entirely down to personal preferences at the end of the day. If you prefer PPC, stick to OS4/MorphOS. If you want to go x86, go for AROS.

AROS is free and open, OS4 and MorphOS are not. If you are all about open-source, there is only one choice. Otherwise, there is thus the cost of ownership to consider. MorphOS has targeted the second hand Mac market, so hardware can be obtained cheaply. In the end, OS4 will cost you the most (unless you get a 2nd hand system), hardware to run it is still on sale as new.

[Karlos]

Probably even better compare each against OS3.9, since that's what they are supposed to be upgrades from.

[Karlos]

Well I do not fully agree since you cant run OS3.9 nativly on either AmigaOS 4.x and MorphOS "modern" hardware.

If you take that position, then it's almost as irrelevant to compare MOS and OS4 then, given that the only non-classic system that will run both is the Peg 2 and they aren't new or that easy to find if you are a new user. In that case, you are probably going to be looking at a Sam to run OS4 or a Mac to run MOS. MOS doesn't run on the SAM and OS4 doesn't run on the Mac (well, you can just about boot it if you know what you are doing).

Then it would not realy be fair, since the original poster dident ask about Classic Amigas with PPC.

No, he asked about OS4, period. He didn't ask about alternatives and he didn't ask about hardware either (he opened a separate thread for that).

But yes some reflections with OS3.9 would be nice to see.

I think it's the most logical comparison to make. You need to know what benefits your next OS (plus whatever hardware it needs to run) is going to give you over your existing one.

[Karlos]

Well I ment more powerfull hardware then the classic Amigas, not any specific hardware in mind, but feels a bit unfair to compare OS9.3 on a PPC Amiga with a faster OS on much faster hardware.

You mean compare OS3.9 on a classic Amiga (which may or may not have a PPC) with OS4/MOS on more powerful hardware, surely?

One of the main factors in getting MOS or OS4 in the first place is that it runs on faster hardware and allows your old applications (at least the system friendly ones) to take advantage of that performance increase.

I don't think anybody ever bought either solely because they thought the icons looked better than they do in 3.9 or that solid window dragging is smoother. And if they did, well frankly, they're a bit silly.

[Karlos]

@tmhg

You seem to be unaware (which is odd, since you posted in it too) of the fact that the original poster already opened a very similar thread not too long ago, asking specifically about MorphOS on the mac mini. The benefits of the combination were discussed there: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=50993

Since he's now asking about OS4, does he need to hear them all again?

-edit-

Also notice how the "pro OS4" crowd didn't wade in and derail the thread. The only time it came up is when the OP asked what MorphOS does that OS4 doesn't. Bit of a shame that some of the "pro MOS" crowd didn't extend the same basic courtesy here really.

Even when the OP states he doesn't want to discuss it here, some still can't drop it.

[Karlos]

I would probably be running MorphOS before now along side my other Amigas, but this constant hijacking of threads and the negitive and nasty sales tactics from some of it's supporters means it's doubtful I would touch it.

You should always judge a system on it's own merits. There are cheerleaders in pretty much every OS camp. If you paid any attention to any of them, you'd end up not wanting to use any of them.

[Karlos]

It's easy to create normal amiga shared libraries with per caller data. bsdsocket.library is a common example, every AmigaOS 3.x installation with a networking installed has such library installed. The added bonus is that you don't need to load the code in memory for every caller, like you have to with AmigaOS 4 SObjects.

Not every shared library can be implemented using old style shared libraries. Consider libstdc++.so, for example.