A1 v's Amiga?

[nasty]

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, But I am having real issues with trying to understand what the Amigaone has over The Amiga 1200? I've asked afew people some questions like:

Q)Can the A1 play amiga games from floppy?

A)Nope, you need a emulator!

Q)So whdload wont work on its on then?

A)I said nope, emulator!!!

So what does the A1 have over the 1200? what can it do that the amiga can't do? what can't it do that the Amiga 1200 can?

So if some of you guys that have an A1 or just know could you use your wisdom and Fill me in on what the differents between these machines are! Cause the thought I have in my head just now is the A1 is a lower spec of a PC that uses the AmigaOS, I already have a high spec PC so I'm not needing another one which has lower specs to use amiga software, so thats why I'm posting to try and find out whats so good about the A1
 :-)

[xeron]

So what does the A1 have over the 1200?

Faster processor, better graphics, better sound, better networking, faster disks, improved operating system, faster boot times, you can put more RAM in it, newer hardware... etc. etc.

what can it do that the amiga can't do?

It can do pretty much everything a classic Amiga can do, only better. Take, for example, watching videos. You can watch higher resolution video on an A1 than on any A1200 because its faster.

what can't it do that the Amiga 1200 can?

* Output PAL/NTSC (although that can be fixed with a future Radeon driver update, I guess).

* Play games and demos that use the old Amiga chipset directly without using an emulator

* Read Amiga disks (at least until CW drivers are finished)

Cause the thought I have in my head just now is the A1 is a lower spec of a PC that uses the AmigaOS, I already have a high spec PC so I'm not needing another one which has lower specs to use amiga software,

Well, its not about need. I have a Windows XP laptop, which I could do everything I want. But I have an AmigaOne, and an expanded A4000 which get used as much, if not more than my laptop.

I use my A1 for web browsing, email, MSN messenger, IRC, gaming, programming, emulating consoles and old computers, listening to music, watching films, etc. and I do it because I actually enjoy using AmigaOS. I don't mind using windows, but I don't enjoy it. I really like the way AmigaOS works. I like programming for AmigaOS.

It feels faster and more responsive. I love the shell, I love the nice features such as ARexx.

If there was a laptop than ran OS4, I simply would not have a Windows PC.

[Karlos]

It depends on what your aim is.

If you want to just run old stuff that doesn't need much more than your basic A1200, then any A1 or pegasos is a huge waste of money for you. These machines are not designed with hardware compatibility with the original amiga in mind. Why would they?

To make a fairer comparison, let's take an A1200 with PPC card as a bare A1200 is not much use these days.

This A1200 can run most (but by no means all) classic amiga software. It is also capable of runing OS4 and MorphOS. Compatibility wise it is a good choice.

The A1s run OS4 and the Peg's run MorphOS. Both also run system friendly classic software, but by and large nothing that demands the original chipset, at least not without some form of emulation. However, emulating the older machine is still a valid way of getting compatibility so you can't really mark them down for that. In fact, as UAE proves, software emulation gives the broadest compatibility possible ;-)

The fact that you _need_ WHDload in order to run a lot of old games on your A1200 already weakens the argument that it is better for non system-friendly software/games. The A1200 needs software (WHDLoad client) to fix compatibility with game X, A1 also needs software (an emulator). Is it really that different in the end?

So it depends on what you want to do. If you want to run older software, the A1200 is more than enough. However, the fastest A1200 presently available is absolutely dwarfed in performance terms by the A1 and Peg, even when running 680x0 code, which of course, these machines have to emulate. If you want to run system friendly applications and games that just prove too much for the classic, then these machines suddenly seem a lot more attractive.

Of course, if you want fast 680x0 emulation there is also WinUAE, but unless UAE gets some sort of PPC emulation, software written for PUp/WOS/MOS/OS4 is not going to work on it.

[_ThEcRoW]

The only advantage the A1 has is os4. The rest of the system is underpowered and overpriced nowadays.

[xeron]

The only advantage the A1 has is os4

He was asking about the advantage over an A1200. Are you saying the A1 is slower than an A1200? ;-)

[djbase]

The only advantage the A1 has is os4. The rest of the system is underpowered and overpriced nowadays.

If you don't like the A1 just don't buy it. Very simple.

[_ThEcRoW]

The system is impossible to buy nowadays fisrt hand.

[djbase]

The system is impossible to buy nowadays fisrt hand.

Thats another problem.

[chris]

_ThEcRoW wrote:
The system is impossible to buy nowadays fisrt hand.

As is an A1200.  Where exactly is the difference?

[djbase]

As is an A1200. Where exactly is the difference?

You can still get new A1200 (NOS) these days. Weird, eh?

[SamuraiCrow]

_ThEcRoW wrote:
The only advantage the A1 has is os4. The rest of the system is underpowered and overpriced nowadays.

I agree to a certain extent.  I consider the AmigaOne to be a developer box in much the same way as the XBox 360 has a dev box that costs lots more than the end-user platform.  Wait for the end-user platforms such as Troika's Amy '05 and ACK's PowerVixxen FL to emerge.

BTW:  The PowerVixxen FL supports linking to an A1200 for backward-compatabilty for the best of both worlds.  When the PowerVixxen comes out for my A1200 I'll probably sell my MicroA1 even if the A1 is faster.

[uncharted]

DJBase wrote:

As is an A1200. Where exactly is the difference?

You can still get new A1200 (NOS) these days. Weird, eh?

Debatable.

[uncharted]

SamuraiCrow wrote:
Wait for the end-user platforms such as Troika's Amy '05 and ACK's PowerVixxen FL to emerge.

BTW:  The PowerVixxen FL supports linking to an A1200 for backward-compatabilty for the best of both worlds.  When the PowerVixxen comes out for my A1200 I'll probably sell my MicroA1 even if the A1 is faster.

IF! IF! IF! Not when.  Don't jinx it! :-(

[amiwalker]

Not sure about the A1, but the classic Amiga's don't support any of the following:

New video and audio codecs
New PDF documents
Constantly fighting to get the browser(s) to load, view, print web sites.

Atleast with OS4 some of these issues have been addressed!

Just my 2 cents worth.

[djbase]

You can still get new A1200 (NOS) these days. Weird, eh?

Debatable.

No, its not, its a fact. People have only problems that their Amiga is not sealed anymore if they bought something different than the default settings. But is a new Amiga.