AmigaOS4 on Classic Amigas

[balrogsoft]

Hi, i found some information that i found on some webs about AOS4 and classic Amigas, i read on Amigawiki this about 68k emulation on OS4: "Programs which attempt to directly access the Custom Chipset may run an accelerated Classic Amiga, but not on the AmigaOne"

And i saw also this on intuitionbase:
"This is just to prove the video's I put online really are from my BPPC Amiga."
http://www.intuitionbase.com/screen/Workbench%20Screen_800x600x16.png

And this:
"This is OS4 running on my (Ryu) BPPC A1200, its nice and fast, much faster than OS3.9 on my 040 and its running quite well on my Bvision... In the grab you can see DvPlayer, RoadShow prefs (the new TCP/IP stack), AmIRC and AmiDock with an assortment of apps in. Im really enjoying OS4."
http://www.intuitionbase.com/screen/OS4BPPC.png

It seems that exist a prerelease version for classic Amigas, can someone confirm then the use of custom chips on classic Amiga using AmigaOS4, because Amigawiki says "may". Because maybe i upgrade an A1200 and the compatibility is very interesting with OS4.

[Matt_H]

Ryu is a betatester, so he has access to the Classic version of OS4. There isn't a public release yet.

From what I heard at Amiwest last year, AGA stuff should still work.

As far as upgrading goes, I'd wait for a new PowerVixxen board, as it'll be much cheaper and more powerful than a BlizzardPPC

[amigagr]

@Matt_H: have you got a link for this PowerVixxen?

[redrumloa]

@balrogsoft

To be brutally honest, I wouldn't hold my breath for a consumer release of OS4 for the classic Amigas. Only a select group of users have access to the beta version and the commercial release is on indefinate hold with no release date.

OTOH MorphOS is available for classics free of charge.

[humppa]

OTOH MorphOS is available for classics free of charge.

...but does not support the Mediator (which had several times more sales than the now unavailable G-Rex).

[CLS2086]

>> but does not support the Mediator
normal because there were some problems between the OpenPci author and Elbox.

>> which had several times more sales than the now unavailable G-Rex
I don't know. I own 2 GREX1200 and I know as much as people with GREX than with Mediator  :-)

[SamuraiCrow]

amije wrote:
@Matt_H: have you got a link for this PowerVixxen?

The PowerVixxen series of accelerator cards for classic Amigas have no website primarily becuase they haven't been released yet.  The person/company that is producing them is called ACK Software Controls.  It seems the PowerVixxen accelerators have taken a back seat to the replacement G4-series processor modules for the AmigaOne XT and MicroA1-c.

[billt]

OTOH MorphOS is available for classics free of charge.

But unfortunately isn't up to running some of the more interesting software. The list of "can't do thats" included anything I'd want to run MorphOS for and I'm not interested enough in MOS to shell out for a Peg to make it useable for anything I myself would like to try.

I'm happy they did release newer updates for MOS classic, I just haven't found a use for it myself yet.

[realmadman]

OTOH MorphOS is available for classics free of charge.

Any chance of a link so we don't have to google it?

[nagaflas]

realmadman wrote:

OTOH MorphOS is available for classics free of charge.

Any chance of a link so we don't have to google it?

http://powerup.morphos-team.net/

[Framiga]

@blit

"But unfortunately isn't up to running some of the more interesting software. The list of "can't do thats" included anything I'd want to run MorphOS for and I'm not interested enough in MOS to shell out for a Peg to make it useable for anything I myself would like to try."

for example what software/harware? (3D stuf for Permedia2 and Mediator apart)

[itix]

@billt

But existing 68k software will run lot faster on MOS/PUP than they would run on real 040 or 060. So if you have PowerUp Amiga it might be worth of try. Also old WarpUp/PowerUp software run faster on MorphOS.

And as a bonus you get PPC native MUI 3.9 for free of charge and possibility to try MUI 4.0 alpha.

[balrogsoft]

Well, is good to know that OS4 for classic machines have at least AGA support for compatibility, i will wait to PowerVixxen or SharkPPC, but if finally PowerVixxen or SharkPPC is not released, PPC is a good option for me, i want compatibility for my upgraded 1200.

[Dandy]

redrumloa wrote:
...
OTOH MorphOS is available for classics free of charge.

Yeah - but unfortunately it just comes with support for the wrong PCI-Busboard:
it supports the dead G-Rex instead of the still suported Mediator.
 :headwall:
Don't get me wrong  - I was really lookig forward to it to give it a try.
I downloaded it and everything (with a 56k modem) - but when I wanted to install it I had to realise that it does not support vital parts of my HW (e.g. no video output as I have an Voodoo4 in my not supported Mediator).

I will certainly not try to get hold of an G-Rex and then rebuild my A4kPPC just to give MorphOS a try!

The same goes for Linux. I would have loved to test it on my given PPC hardware - but it does as well not support my Mediator, as far as I know.

So there is no point in giving them a try - they disqualified themselves by ignoring and not supporting the quasi standard HW regarding PCI on the Amiga platform.

"Quasi standard" because its the only PCI busboard for classic Amigas that is still beeing manufactured, available and supported.

I would really love to see that the authors of MorphOS and Apus-Linux would understand that "not supporting Mediator" was a big mistake and if they could bring themselves to adjust this (but I'm afraid there is little hope for this).

[Piru]

...and I would love to see users understand that the one biggest reason Mediator is not supported anywhere is Elbox themselves.

- Ever wondered why there is no linux support? (as in source code)
- Ever wondered why Elbox doesn't provide source code for the one linux kernel said to have mediator support? I know some have requested the source code, and haven't received it (so far).
- Ever wondered why Elbox blocked early OpenPCI support (yes, it was there from early on) for Mediator?

There are other reasons why Mediator is not supported (some technical issues with the A1200 mediators), but why bother when the company involved clearly wants to block any other attempts to add any support?