Amiga Forever vs. Amiga 4000/040

[neofree]

I'm trying to figure out if there is *any* advantage to having a A4000/040 vs. Amiga Forever.  Amiga Forever emulates 040, and also Picasso96 as well as HD, CD, Internet, etc.  I am ofcourse speaking of a A4000 with upgraded graphics, sound, and nic, so they'd be equivilant basically.

The *only* benefit to a real 4000 I can think of is I can get a Cyberstorm PPC card and run OS4.  Is there any other benefit? And will a Cyberstorm PPC card with OS4 be any good?  And are those cheaper then a A1 motherboard?

Thanks,

Neofree

[adolescent]

It really depends on what you want to do.  If you just want to play games then WinUAE/Amiga Forever is great.  It also depends on if you have a strong enough computer to run it on already.  (ie. spending $1000 on a computer just to emulate a $200 doesn't make much sense.)

[neofree]

Got a AMD Athlon XP 2400+ with 384MB RAM and 20GB of HD space.  The motherboard went out though, found a nice one for $60 though.  I would play games and run a BBS mainly.  OS4 interests me as well.  But is being able to run OS4 (with PPC card) the *only* difference?  Is a PPC card going to be good enough in a 4000?  Or will I just want a A1 anyway?

[Ilwrath]

Well, really, like anything, it all comes down to what you want to do.  

I've used Amigas for more years than I'd care to admit, now...  And, in my opinion, for nostalgia sake, nothing comes even close to using the actual hardware.  But, nostalgia, and the occasional educational project, are the only reasons I fire up an Amiga, anymore.  

But for running a BBS, UAE should be a great solution.  On very low-end PC hardware, you can emulate a BBS faster than most actual Amigas could run it.  The CNet I was tinkering around with ran beautifully in a low-priority WinUAE session on an old junkbox (AMD Slot-A 600mhz) even while it was running a bunch of other tasks under Win2000.  So for the price of an Amiga ethernet card, you can have a whole UAE system capable of running a BBS.  

Plus, you don't want to put classic Amiga hardware through that kind of abuse, anymore.  If you want to run a BBS 24x7, I'd highly discourage you from using classic hardware...  Especially an A4000.  They never were that good at durability and heat management, and over the years they've surely gotten worse.  They just can't stand up to that kind of heat and stress so well, anymore.  

As for looking for a PPC solution, I don't think any of them will run a currently available BBS.

[neofree]

Good points about the BBS.

But I didn't want the PPC for BBS necassarily, just wanted to try OS4.

[Brian]

Well what difference... apart from the classic Amiga machine will be much more expencive to catch a very lowend PC there's the nostalgic feeling pointed out already, and as you self said the PPC/OS4 bit also.

The best thing in my oppinion would not be to spend loads and loads of $ on a beefed up A4000 system that will still be old in comparrison to most anything. Instead get a cheapo A1200 with a 030 board and some memory, a lowend PC (0.5-1Ghz is well within the limits)... there will be plenty of meney left over that can go into an A1 with just a little more funding. That way you get the nostalgia of an Amiga classic, the power of a beefed system without draining all your savings, and you get to see the new road a head for the Amiga... it do take up a fair bit of space though.

[Effy]

About heat in an A4000D, remove the 5,25" CDrom and insert a 5,25" Twin Cooler, avaliable in every pc store, and it does cool my big pc tower by 15 degrees Celcius for sure (box said 30 degrees but the hardware monitor only showed a decrease of 15) ...

[HopperJF]

Using OS4 is a huge benefit, and if you want to stick around the Amiga you are best keeping up with it and consider OS4

[TheMagicM]

I have a 040 A4000 but use UAE configured w/a "graphics card", 040 etc and do programming on it.  UAE can do just about anything a classic Amiga can.  But no OS4..

[neofree]

So the real question is OS4.  Does OS4 run good on a PPC card in a 4000?  Or will I just wish I had a A1?  I probably could afford $400 to get a PPC card and $100 for OS4, later down the road that is... But $900 for an A1 motherboard only is going to be a long ways down the road... So unless the price will come down, the 4000 seems like best bet for OS4, if it will even be worth it..  So, will it?

[Dandy]

neofree wrote:
So the real question is OS4.  Does OS4 run good on a PPC card in a 4000?  
...

I think best would be you ask this question to the Frieden Brothers, as OS4 for CyberstormPPC is still *NOT* publically available, although T. Frieden told me nearly two (!) years ago it was already in beta testing phase since a few months ago.

What I can answer you is when OS4 for CSPPC will be publically available:

"When it's done..."
(The Friedens)

 :-D

[bjjones37]

I'm a collector. I like having a classic box.  I loved the golden age of computing when there were so many different platforms, processors and operating systems to choose from.  Now there is Windows with dozens of emulators.  Sure, get a PC with Windows.  It has the best software and hardware support - though not necessarily the best OS and hardware (debates rage on about that). They are very flexible systems and very cost effective.  But for pure, teary-eyed sentiment, get a classic Amiga (for your second system).   :-D

[Aledt]

you'd be lucky to find a csppc for $400, and even if you did, ask yourself if its worth that much.  Personally i think the main advantge of using an a4000 would be that you could use a proper amiga keyboard instead of one of those silly keys with little windows logos on

[Effy]

Aledt : if keyboard is a problem then get a Catweasel MK3 PCI/Flipper "A lot of users of that software wanted to use real Amiga keyboards on the PC, that's why the Catweasel MK3 has a mini-DIN connector for an A4000 keyboard. If you want to use an A2000 or A3000 keyboard, this can be done with a PS2 adapter that should be available in good PC-shops."  :-)

[Aledt]

Thats pretty cool, so i can use my a4k keyboard with my kvm if i put one of them in the pc, instead of having to use this crappy PC keyboard and an adaptor on the amiga side of the kvm