AmigaMance wrote:
I see that you participate in off-topic threads lately... There is nothing wrong with this, but when was the last time that you actually used an Amiga or a peg?
'Lately'? My dear fellow, I've been contributing off-topically since 2003 or thereabouts. I continue to keep tabs on the small world of Amigas because of fond adolescent memories, and the fact that many basic concepts of multitasking can be found in these machines, which help me out elsewhere.
As for my using Amigas: does AROS count? Then 2004, I think. If not, then 2000 or thereabouts, when I sold my 4000 because of immense frustration in trying to get some programming done. SAS/C was no longer supported (although I had an official licensed copy); gcc was dog slow; and the machine crashed faster than a politician can shift positions. The endless stream of 'Disk Not Validated' errors as a consequence just made me throw in the towel. I was sorely tempted to get a Minimig when Dennis published his schematics (I like retro computing), but for now I lack room in my house and time to turn it inside out properly. In addition, I think I'd like to see a Minimig with more CPU horsepower appear first; AGA is not worth it, IMO.
Now that I've answered your question, here's one of mine: why did you want to know all this? Do I have to be a regular Amiga user in order to contribute here? For I don't think I like the tone of the subsequent questions, although, as you can see, I will answer them fully and completely.
Do you even care that all these sites went down and their owners are on transit? Do you know what programs they were developing?
I know what platon42 was developing: an O(1) (consant time) memory allocator is sufficiently arcane to pique my interest. I even looked up the original articles and some MC680x0 assembly documentation (the BFFFO mnemonic was key here) to see how it worked. I've been meaning to dive into memory management for years now, and this was a nice opportunity to add a few more bookmarks to my growing list. The rest I have no idea about, save that I can tell that Piru's site is amongst those who went the way of the dodo. His knowledge of system internals is vast, so yes, I'm sure his contributions will be missed.
But do I actually
care as in the way displayed by the discussions elsewhere? No, absolutely not. And I wouldn't have even if I still had an Amiga or a derivative. This is a small corner of the IT hobby, and I recognise it as such. People are not obliged to contribute anything, and are similarly not entitled to anything, save those who produce code for cash, of course. I consider some of the actions displayed elsewhere rather juvenile, but it's not my problem, and I refuse to make it mine, too. 'But we lose valuable developers!', I hear you retort---well, learn how to program yourself, or switch to a platform where you can rely on more stable support if that is important to you. I tried the first, and ended up chosing the second. 'You'll not be able to look up useful hints any longer!'---perhaps. But I'm not worried that I won't find answers elsewhere.
In this tiny community, you can't have your cake and eat it too, I'm afraid... Suppose for example that platon42 decided that he was going to spend more time with his children (assuming for the sake of the discussion that he has any) instead of his computer, and Piru decided to go camping and pony trekking for real? They'd still leave gaping wounds in the Amiga development community as a consequence. The only difference is that the way they left would have been more agreeable. And, far more importantly, people probably still would be able to use their neat little programs until the next developer surfaced to breathe a little more life into this platform.
In any case, my 'pity' is for the way the discussions---what is left of them, to be precise---were / are being conducted.
