Interview questions discussion thread

[mikeymike]

I thought I'd answer a few of the questions, as they've already been answered officially before, or they were in the featurelist, etc.

@  meerschaum

The purpose of the "dongle" (AFAIK some code in the BIOS of the A1 that OS4 detects and allows itself to be installed/run) is for a number of reasons, take your pick:

 * The smaller the number of configurations that OS4 can be installed on, the less development and testing work that needs to be done.  OS4 isn't likely to set the world alight, so it makes perfect business sense to get as large a return on as small amount as possible.  This isn't meant to have a go at Hyperion, I'm not saying they're cutting corners in QA or anything like that.

 * Presumably Eyetech and Hyperion have or will have some kind of partnership, and as there's more money in selling hardware than software, both companies can have their fingers in both pies.

Future Amiga "next gen" hardware won't necessarily be "derived" from the current A1 as you put it, it's just a case of limiting the number of configurations it will run on.  If Eyetech/Hyperion decide to go with a completely different chipset and say the G5 in future, then Hyperion will develop the OS to cater for that as well.

Regarding "stability" of all the current possible configurations, I'm sure they won't get them all perfect first time.  As you don't like the A1/OS4, I'm sure you'll expect them to be perfect first time or expect a grilling by you on the amiga.org forums.

@ shIva

Your first four questions - the answer is no as it's not a unix box, nor is it intended to be aimed at that market.  Your networking question is answered yes from the OS4 featurelist.  The rest of your unix related questions, no.

"Will be system be documented?"... not sure what you mean by this.

@ bloodline

re: DHCP, of course it will, it would be a bit of a cack TCP/IP stack if it didn't :-)  See the OS4 featurelist.

[bloodline]

@ bloodline

re: DHCP, of course it will, it would be a bit of a cack TCP/IP stack if it didn't  See the OS4 featurelist.

My point exactly.

[alx]

@meerschaum

The recent demos were actually running on ExecSG on the PPC accelerator (not the 68k), but I agree with the rest of the question - when are we going to see OS4 beta on an A1 without custom chips?

[meerschaum]

mikeymike when i say 'derived' I mean re-sellers could take an AmigaOne and pair it with any type of SDRAM they chose(possibly not good ram), any case and PSU (possibly not good case and PSU),any graphics card (possibly not very good 'models' of graphics card)... all these factors add to 'stability' ... that bieng said... since this 'rom' 'dongle' or whatever you want to call it... if bieng put there on the premise that it will increase 'quality' or some such nonsense... isnt it equally important that the system derived from AOS4/AmigaOne go through equally rigorous measures?..... thats all I'm asking... how will they handle that end of 'quality assurance' or however you want to term it.

[mikeymike]

@ meerschaum

Any type of RAM - that's a chipset issue, and not under the control of Eyetech/HP.  AFAIK, there aren't any other PPC mobo chipsets available for them to use, Apple use one of their own design.

Any case/PSU - AFAIK there isn't any problem...

Any graphics card - AFAIK there are no hardware compatibility issues between mobo and gfx card, but the more likely point is that drivers have to be written for OS4.  So at the moment the number of gfx cards usable under OS4 is lower, and will increase with time, provided that OS4 is successful enough.

re the "dongle" - you apparently didn't even bother to read what I wrote.  OBVIOUSLY the less different hardware a software product has to support, the more likely it is to be stable under all the supported setups!  Hyperion neither have the time or the money to make sure that OS4 works on all past, present and future PPC-based motherboards!

What do you mean by "equally rigorous measures", it doesn't even relate/compare to the dongle related subject.  You're kind of saying "I hope their software testing procedures are good, because they're insisting on a dongle".  Apples/oranges.  If it turned out that the dongle was affecting software stability or got in the way of the legitimate user on supported hardware, then I might have a problem with it.

I say judge A1/OS4 when it is released.  If it turns out to be a pile of cack even on "fully supported" hardware, then by all means criticise it, but all you're doing right now is just assuming it will be cack and that nothing could possibly save it from your criticism, except possibly if they gave you free copies that could run perfectly on any hardware you choose.  Hey! Why doesn't it run on my PC!

meerschaum, you are so biased it is unbelievable.  I don't know why you even bother to cast judgement on something you care so little about, and have no intention of even checking it out.

[meerschaum]

here is my question... very simple...


A1 is a board... since this board is bieng used to build systems how will they (keeping the users best intrests in mind) make sure the VAR's/Resellers meet the standerds they have set down for AmigaOS itself.

'how do you plan to handle standerds of quality assurance for re-sellers/var's/etc?' ... it should be a simple question to answer... and I'd like to hear 'THEM" answer it...

[mikeymike]

here is my question... very simple...

Very good, then why didn't you ASK that, instead of turning it into a rant?

(and that question you've just asked in that way IS a valid question)

[olegil]

I agree with mikeymike on this one, meershaum. I suggest toning down your posting in the other thread so the (valid) question has half a chance of being answered.

To everyone else:
It helps to read the featurelist before asking, PLEASE. For instance bloodlines question was just silly. Hint: Roadshow, from the os.amiga.com OS4 featurelist

About the "I don't consider OS4 running on classic hardware as even a beta" I would say "tough luck". OS4 for CSPPC will be released to end users before the AmigaOne version, because of lack of drivers. If you have a hard time with that, that's your problem, not Bens...

Ok?

[mikeymike]

The strange thing is, what has the hardware that a product runs on got to do with its release-worthy status.  (Rhetorical)

I think current high-end "Classic" Amiga owners would feel cheated if they got left behind now.  It would probably be a good deal easier for Hyperion if they did get left behind, but I think there should be at least some transition from old to new rather than just leaving "faithful" users high and dry.  They should be left behind at some point, maybe OS5 in say a few years' time (IMO, not based on any information I've heard :-)).

[lempkee]

well about the stuff bloodline etc wrote ,
seriously not everyone hangs over the feature list, but i think all should but i guess thats too much to ask.

beyond that ,  dont slaughter them who ask , every now and then there might be a person who actually dont know or have seen the os feature list...
sorry but i found it pretty dull to attack him.

-

and about the people who basically just nooooose around and play dirt,  u know who u are... bored while u wait for the delayed mos1.4 maybe?..
no flame intended, but its pretty annoying .

-

mikeymike:nice that u opend this thread...,was needed.. my fingers itched to reply ...i even did ... (in the ben hermans questions round 2..) ...

cheers


pps:lets keep it abit serious here...

[mikeymike]

@ ksk

Screensavers as benchmark programs?  NOOOOOO!

Screensavers are supposed to stop toasting the screen, preferably not at the expense of toasting other components in the system... I want my system to relax and cool down for a bit when I'm not using it...

PPC machines may run cooler but it seems they are less temperature tolerant than their x86 counterparts... stories of users in hot countries having to use as much active cooling on their PPC boxes there as I do with my x86 box here in the UK...

By all means have pretty screensavers :-)  Just not screensavers that make CPUs go toasty hot :-)

[olegil]

@lempkee:

I disagree. If Matt of AROS would rather waste our and Bens time asking about DHCP support in a product that according to the 7 months old feature list already has DHCP, then he needs some flac for that. Come on. He should know where to look.

[bloodline]

olegil wrote:
I disagree. If Matt of AROS would rather waste our and Bens time asking about DHCP support in a product that according to the 7 months old feature list already has DHCP, then he needs some flac for that. Come on. He should know where to look.

That's right I asked a really stupid question. Frankly I trust the official AOS4 feature list like I trust Charlie Mansons defence speech...

I want to know what is "currently" going to be part of the feature list... that's why I ask the question.

Do you know how many times the Official features of AOS4.0 have changed? What is your porblem with me trying to find out some information.

No wait, I'll tell you what, why don't you answer all the questions? It would save Ben some time, or unless, like me, you actualy want to know what plans Hyperion have.

[olegil]

Roadshow is not an integral part of OS4, it was written (and completed) WELL before Hyperion started working on OS4.

So:
What on gods green earth does DHCP in Roadshow have to do with Hyperions plans?

Sensible answer to that riddle awaited.

Edit:

Ok, ok. It was a bit harsh. Sorry. No hard feelings, ok? :-)

[mikeymike]

@ bloodline

That's right I asked a really stupid question. Frankly I trust the official AOS4 feature list like I trust Charlie Mansons defence speech...

And why is that?

Do you know how many times the Official features of AOS4.0 have changed?

They have?  Since the featurelist?  Or are we talking about silly things Amiga Inc have said?