OS Enhancement Pack for 68K users - market demand?

[Warface]

pjhutch wrote:

[...] its time Amiga users moved on to new hardware and a new OS4 for the 21st Century. I don`t want 68k stuff to continue to hold us back any longer.

And what about the existing number of 68K machines and their users? (which is overwhelming compared to either cyberstorm or amigaone numbers)

The majority won't buy PPC boards costing a fortune, yet they'd like to have updates to their platform. And as I mentioned I'm sure they will pay for it.

Those suggesting to dump the existing 68K machine userbase and suggest for everyone to switch to PPC live in lucky places - not somewhere where a shrinkwrapped OS is affordable but a PPC board is not (at least not for everyone).

[matt3k]

I think Amiga Inc. should release an update or new version for 68k.  The minimum processor spec. should be an 040.  This would be a great revenue generator, with very minimal effort.  Add all the great pd, like the Riva player etc. and clean up the OS slightly and recompile for the 040.

I would buy 2 copies if they did so...

[Rassilon]

by Warface on 2003/6/26 13:25:36

And what about the existing number of 68K machines and their users?

I think its fair to say that of the remaining Amiga users something like 90% are 'power users' By that I mean they have upgraded to their Amiga's to the best spec they can afford.

Of those 90% I bet most of them if given the chance and money would prefer to upgrade to a new PPC rather than stay with an older less reliable (as in hack/patch/add-on) Amiga.

Rassilon

[DaveP]

Warface wrote:

Installing OS4 on the damn slow 68k CPUs is simply a waste of time....

A 060 with a gfx card is everything but not "damn slow"...

Err mine was. Tried PageStream 4.1 on an 060? Made me use AmigaForever!

[Kronos]

@Rassilon

Just look around here, and you will find plenty of user asking questions about "real" SW
that still use something like a 030 (yuk).

There are also plenty of user who see 0 sense in spending >1000 Euro (you know board,
RAM,HD,case, taxes ...) for something that WILL be slower than their current Amiga (emu).

And yes Steffen these are a big part of the " market", just not for ports of vintage
PC-games at full price.

[jeffimix]

I doubt that even the 600MHz board will be slower than their 'real' Amiga Chronos, I think applications will run at at least more than 10% of the processors speed through emulation, sheesh.

68060 - usually 50MHz
PPC- 600/800MHz (for us)
600/10 = 60MHz

[whabang]

To be honest: NO!
Mostly because there is not enough market to cause a "demand".
In a couple of years 68k will be totally dead. Sad but true, it's a fact. The remaining 68k HW is falling apart; my miggies are all dead, and many others have suffered the same fate.
If the Coldfire project succeeds it's a different issue assuming that the designers go around the "ancient" HW bit, creating something like a Coldfire based clone.

[Kronos]

@jeffimix

a) it is "Kronos" and the "K" is there for a reason.

b) you got it all wrong....


What I wanted to say was that people running Amithlon or UAE allready have a faster
Amiga (running 68k) than any PPC available for "us" in the forseeable future, even if that
PPC is running native SW.

Those could be a market for an 68k-OS-update.

[Ilwrath]

Personally I'd prefer Hyperion to spend their time making OS4 the best it can be for PPC, instead of helping drag the rotting corpse of m68k any further.

In a couple of years 68k will be totally dead. Sad but true, it's a fact. The remaining 68k HW is falling apart; my miggies are all dead, and many others have suffered the same fate.

I see quotes like this, and I can't help but think this also applies to the PPC "Amigas" such as AmigaOne and Peggy, as well, though.  Let's face it, between the both of them, I doubt they've sold 1,000 units, and the AmigaOne hasn't even got an OS, but the hardware is already seriously outdated.  I mean, compare with Mac.  Complete G4 systems (used/refirb) are going for the price of an A1 mobo.  Actually, you can't compare, anyhow.  Mac has a comercially available OS (OSX - not 9!) that has already proven stable.

When I bought my A4000, it was cutting edge of what was out there.  And I mostly kept it that way, with the phase 5 upgrades.  I skipped on the CyberStorm mk3 PPC cycle (have a Mk2 060) and was going to get the CS G3 (remember that?  I have a confirmed order form...  :-(  )   But obviously that never happened, so here I am.  The 4000 is a dear part of my collection, and I'll never sell it.  I'm not against spending some money...  But I really have no use for a new outdated system, either.  Saying you don't want to drag the corpse of m68k any further does make sense -- it's just that the AmigaOne also looks a lot like a dead corpse -- just one with a lot less market share than my m68k.

[benJamin]

An old topic, but who cares... ;-)


I'd just like to remind people that I am not going to turn off my A1200 when I get an AmigaOne, I'm going to use it so other people can view web-pages, listen to music and watch movies that stream from the A1, while I use the A1 for whatever I want.  Why shouldn't my 'Classic' look and function the same as the A1, rather than just approximate it with more patches?

I also agree, funnily enough, with what most of those in favour have said.  How many of you owning multiple Amiga's have wished all their machines could run OS4, as they probably do OS3?

I do want PPC.  Especially now that x86 seems to be running out of options (they'll obviously think of something for the time being), and all those options are slowly but surely making appearances to help PPC architecture, too.  It may only be a matter of time before PPC is the prefered solution (IMHO).


benJamin

"If 68K is dead, how come companies manufacture 68K compatible CPUs for use in embeded applications?  'Powered by Amiga' bicycles with mp3, speedometer/odometer, etc. is probably a silly idea, though..."  ;-)

[mikeymike]

I'd like to know if there is any market demand out there for an OS Enhancement Pack that would include some of the new features of OS 4.

Translation:

We'd rather not actually have to PAY FOR anything at any point soon, can we have some free stuff please?  We promise not to complain MUCH when it doesn't run so well on our hardware.

[Linchpin]

Gimmie a1!

My old amigas are dying a slow and painfull death, im not going to spend money on a dying platform, i would LOVE to get my mitts on an A1 with OS4, and as soon as i can i will, and then maybe get the old a1200 out of the closet for retro, "old time's sake". I personally think it would be a bad move to continue development for 68k, allthough i agree it would be nice, lets not tie this amiga ship down anymore than it allready is. Time to move on, i think.. :-)

(But thats just my opinion).

Kevin

[benJamin]

@mikeymike:
Huh?  I'd pay for it, if only to encourage something else to be made for me to buy also.  I'd rather spend AU$10 a month on ensuring my OS is up-to-date than try to spend AU$150+ to buy a new OS out-right.  That money would only be wasted on Alcohol or Cigarettes, anyway, and I'm DEFINITELY more addicted to my Amiga (I can spend weeks without alcohol, but my Amiga is used nearly everyday).

But, by far the biggest reason: I use WinUAE for demonstrating my products to PC users at University, etc., even if the product will never see release on their platform.  Especially to wow them.

It takes money to make money, therefore it takes product to make product, maybe?

benJamin

"Once I've duped a hundred thousand people into buying A1+OS4, they'll all be demanding Word be ported, and I'll tell them that they can get the DataTypes as ShareWare, and support the little people instead."

So there.  :-P

[olegil]

Sure there is market demand for that.

I would buy a few copies _given the right price_.

I've been trying to work with 3.5 on the Access, but am thinking of dropping that and going for 3.9 instead. If I get my Apollo 1240 up and running again that means I need another 3.9 license, and then I have a spare 1200 which I'm thinking of getting an 060 for, and that would mean another 3.9.
I also have Amithlon that I might start using more.

All in all, if it wasn't too expensive I would really like an update. At least 2, maybe up to 4 copies :-)

[Acill]

I would get some type of upgrade like a BB3 sure. I'd even pay up to $20 for it. If Roadshow is released I would love that!!

[Framiga]

by pjhutch on 2003/6/26 14:14:22

I can see the need for a Bug Fix update for AmigaOS 3.9 and possibly an updated TCP/IP stack esp. for LAN/ADSL users.

Genesis bundled with AmigaOS3.9 CD and a XSurf card with its PPPoE device, works great with ADSL, and it is lighter and faster than MiamiDX.

Ciao