What I would like to know is what can I expect from the OS4? Is it stable enough for 'everyday' use?
Although the pre-release lacks certain things like UDMA hard disk driver, and native gfx, it is a very useable system. A lot of classic Amiga software works transparently such as IBrowse, Simplemail, Yam, AmIRC, Jabberwocky etc. for internet, and most other system friendly apps.
There are also a few native programs, not a great deal yet, but I know of quite a lot being developed. When OS4 reached the pre-release state, I had already been using it as my main OS for quite a few months.
Once you get the promised update, it will be just as useful, but will get a LOT faster! The current version really is very fast indeed!
Is there any software for OS4 there yet? What can it run?
Check out
OS4Depot for native software, and
intuitionbase for general info...
Finally, is it possible to run OS X on these PPC boards?
OS X *does* run inside Mac-On-Linux, on top of linux. It is quite tricky to setup, however, and it can be quirky, but it is fully usable once installed.
