Ok, I really need some advice

[vic20owner]

If I decided I wanted something reasonably modern and fast, my current choices are:

A1200 highly upgraded (060 or PPC? Os3.9?)
PegasOs
AmigaOne

I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should spend my money on a new PPC based amiga board instead of continuing to upgrade my classic system any further.

Could someone give me an idea of what it's actually like to use one of these PPC systems? MorphOS? OS4?

Do you have any good browser options? Are you as limited as a classic amiga except with better video card and speed? Software?  Cost? Is it all worth it in the end? Which will give me the most fun for the least investment?  

How is MorphOS compared to OS4? PegasOs? Are they all similar to AmigaOS as far as libraries, devs, shell commands, etc? Is Amiga C code portable between these operating systems without much modification (GUI libaries,intuition, etc)?

Help, I'm confused.

Thanks
vic20owner

[SamuraiCrow]

An upgraded A1200 with PPC is the most expensive option but it is also one of the most compatible options since it keeps the Amiga AGA chipset available and will run MorphOS or the soon-to-be released A1200 version of AOS 4.

I have a MicroA1 and it flies as long as it doesn't lock up.  (It's a core voltage problem that I'm afraid to adjust from its default setting but that's another story.)  The Troka Amy '05 should be out soon and be a cost-effective AOS 4 solution.

C Source code compatability between an AOS 3.1 system and any of the others including AROS is a safe bet.  Using more advanced features such as Cybergraphics4 (MOS) or Picasso96 (AOS4) will get you into trouble as far as portability is concerned.  Cybergraphics 3 is emulated by P96 though so that should be safe.

As for capabilities, MorphOS is more backwards-compatible than AOS 4 but AOS 4 has a better roadmap toward the future with its interfaces in the libraries offering a clearer upgrade path to 64-bit operation while maintaining backward compatability.  Although EUAE is available for both MorphOS and AOS 4 the AOS 4's built-in soon-to-be-released JIT compiler is rumored to be linkable to EUAE for good compatability and performance.

Sadly, the most cost-effective solution is a PC running EUAE under Linux or AROS (although you'd be stuck with AOS 3.9 in this configuration.)  WinUAE is also better than EUAE so running Amiga software on a Windows box works well too.  Also these configurations will allow you to run Mozilla Firefox which is a much better browser than anything available under MorphOS or AOS 4.

I've tried to maintain some objectivity but I think I may have let my bias toward AOS 4 slip out on this one.  You asked for my opinion and I gave it.

[Piru]

@vic20owner

How is MorphOS compared to OS4? PegasOs? Are they all similar to AmigaOS as far as libraries, devs, shell commands, etc? Is Amiga C code portable between these operating systems without much modification (GUI libaries,intuition, etc)?

Pegasos is the hardware. MorphOS is the OS.

MorphOS is very similar indeed, you find all the familiar libraries, devs, shell commands from it. You can even mix 68k and ppc libraries, devs, commands freely, there is no difference for the user or the calling app, they're 100% transparent.

Code portability is very good between AmigaOS 3.x and MorphOS, often the only consideration being making sure that ppc/68k function (if mixed) get called properly (very trivial once you get hang of it). For more about MorphOS coding, see MorphOS Developer Connection (you need to sign up first though).

PS. Since I'm part of the MorphOS team, I leave out any comparision to the competing project. Obviously I consider MorphOS superior.

PPS. Regarding hardware: It's commonly agreed that the Pegasos II is the best and cheapest PPC hardware available, having excellent GNU/Linux (debian, gentoo, others) support aswell.

[vic20owner]

Thanks for the help.  Could you suggest a shop selling PegasOs hardware at a reasonable price? I'm a little leary of Amiga shops at the moment..they have all let me down. There is a free version of MorphOs (yes?) so that's one expense out of the way if I go ahead and buy the hardware.

[Piru]

@vic20owner

Could you suggest a shop selling Pegasos hardware at a reasonable price? I'm a little leary of Amiga shops at the moment..they have all let me down.

I don't know where you're located, but at least GGS-Data in sweden is extremely reliable and they have excellent service. You should probably ask for customer experiences at MorphZone, which shop have they used and what was the service like.

There is a free version of MorphOs (yes?) so that's one expense out of the way if I go ahead and buy the hardware.

Yes, MorphOS is free for the Pegasos hardware.