Amiga OS4 on old (PPC) Macs

[patts]

Interesting thread... Got some old G3's at home..

Hmmm but i think this tread has gone out of the subject. The question in hand is, could it be done? Have anyone tried it?

[persia]

If somebody has a copy of OS 4 that they'd be willing to lend, I'd be happy to try it in a variety of old PPC Macs....

[Jeff]

Fact of the matter is someone claims to have had some flavor of OS4 running on a Mac Mini. I doubt we will ever see that actual version. I'm sure there aren't many copies of that disk, and it doesn't look like they will be selling that version any time soon.

It seems we have no idea how different the currently shipping Classic version of 4.0 is from the one they used on the Mini. I'm sure that it is sufficiently different that the average person(s) won't have any chance of making it work at all.

Perhaps someone who is a talented coder, both on the Amiga and old PPC Mac's, will give it a go if someone like this;

A) Had all the needed hardware and software including Amiga's, Mac's, and a copy of OS 4 classic.
B) Even cares enough to try it at all
C) Has the time to even start trying such a thing

As much as we all would like to see it happen the only thing the rest of us can do is sit back and wait to see what happens if anything. We are all used to waiting forever for impossible solutions to problems or we wouldn't still be here.

I ordered my copy even though I don't have a PPC card. I probably could drop a grand on a 10 year old card if I wanted to, but I have elected to wait at least a few months after some copies make it out in to the world and see what happens.

Jeff

[jahc]

It would be hard for Amiga to compete without a killer app, actually without any of the "standard" apps let alone a killer app. It can render web pages, can't handle html mail. It's video and audio editors are primitive. You can't open Adobe docs or see flash on youtube. You can't edit raw images. You can't edit and host webpages on it. You can't open a Word document. Who would buy it and why?

You're mostly right, but theres a few exceptions..

Abiword loads MS Word documents (and others, like OO.org), SimpleMail has some basic HTML rendering, CubicIDE has non-WYSIWYG HTML editing with syntax highlighting, and theres at least one or two website hosting softwares around, youtube is accessible with scripts under AWeb and IBrowse and can be played back with MPlayer (just not embedded in the page)..

(I just put the above in bold because I dont want to sound like I'm saying Amiga's are problem free)

[persia]

But again, is there anything in the A1 specs that isn't a PPC Mac?  Well, except for legacy ports...

[Hans_]

persia wrote:
But again, is there anything in the A1 specs that isn't a PPC Mac?  Well, except for legacy ports...

The A1 uses UBoot, so the A1 version of OS4 only has a UBoot bootloader; it won't work on a Mac. The A1 uses the Artica S chipset (from the now defunct MAI Logic), whereas Macs use their own chipset. These are incompatible.

Hans
 

[Methuselas]

I'd almost be tempted to start a bounty for some code guru to "liberate" OS4 from its hardware dependencies......  :roll:

[persia]

Yes, a bounty, terrific idea.

[dammy]

The future of the the Amiga of course is Intel AROS, but that's a different issue.

I'll dissagree, AROS is currently x86, x86_64, and PPC Linux hosted.  As you probably know, PPC native on a EFIKA is in developement by our own Tigger with SAM440 waiting in the wings.  What I'm looking for is SMP on x86_64 and the first step towards ARM.  

OK, so maybe I gave an irrational twitch when I see the word "Intel" being used as a label on AROS.  What I'm trying to point out that AROS belongs to the masses of users and archs.  IMO, AROS should be about the OS as hardware is just hardware. Which hardware is going to be used should be up to the end user.  If the end user decides to buy hardware from one of the OEMs (and is it ever nice to say that now) that are supporting AROS, everyone wins.  If not, throwing some beer money at the AROS devs is the next best thing.

Dammy
TeamAROS

[hbarcellos]

About Persia's idea, I think that with some minor changes, this software could be used to run OS4 on Older Macs:
http://mac-on-linux.sourceforge.net/

[persia]

Do we have a clear picture of what needs to be emulated?  Does OS/4 use any of the motorola chips or Angus/Denise/etc?

[jorkany]

Oliver,

Apart from the hobby/nostalgia factor, is there actually any real reason to use OS4?

No, there isn't. In fact the hobby factor is the only reason, nostalgia doesn't even come into the picture as OS4 is a new OS. Unless you're referring to the fact that it's been languishing around for the past four years, making people nostalgic for 2004, lol!

Are there aps for OS4 which can attract a user base?

Hollywood is about the only one that stands out even marginally. The rest of the lot are only a draw if you want to pretend it's still 1996.

[persia]

There's the problem, the user base for OS4 is so bloody tiny that no one will develop for it.  Put it on old Macs and you'll have a potential base.

BTW - The iMac that started this discussion is, for now, running Leopard and plugged in my home network, but with read only access to the terrabyte file server....

[Hans_]

persia wrote:
There's the problem, the user base for OS4 is so bloody tiny that no one will develop for it.  Put it on old Macs and you'll have a potential base.

And developers will also be able to obtain machines on wich to develop and test code.

Hans

[EDanaII]

[Edited because I posted in wrong thread] :-)

[arnljot]

Methuselas wrote:
I'd almost be tempted to start a bounty for some code guru to "liberate" OS4 from its hardware dependencies......  :roll:

If there was a bounty: Are there coders with the skills? Most of the good ones are maybe busy with Aros, and we'd want to keep it that way?

And the OS4 skilled coders would maybe betray their relationship with Hyperion if they solved such a bounty...

But I'd sponsor this bounty with a few coins... And surely if I knew that it wouldn't detract skills from the Aros pool