How about creating a Open AMIGA Consortium?

[freqmax]

I no longer invest any resources in anything that can be taken away to will. At minimum the API should be available. And ofcourse even better the source code with a licence to change, redistribute etc.. (BSD/GPL).

Can't these be used as definition?
It will allow existing software to work. It's widely available, and almost anyone can verify compliency. Won't require any major changes as to how things work.

Hardware API definition: A500/A1200/A3000/A4000 etc..

Software API definition: KS 1.3 basic, KS 3.1 full.

Hw/Sw that works as above should be considered "Amiga compliant".

[minator]

This is not the first open amiga idea.

I don't hold out much hope for this effort, I wrote that 11 years ago...

[Einstein]

persia wrote:
You know I'm starting to change my mind on this whole thing.  Chasing state-of-the-art isn't really preactical, how long much effort to write code to take advantage of multiple cores?  How much to link machine to combine cpu power like xGrid?  Memory protection and all the other issues AmigaDos has are too hard to address.

The Amiga is retro-computing at it's best.  I spend all day working on state of the art equipment.  When I come home and turn on my 2000 it takes me back to a simpler time.  Low end graphics, simple games and OS that really doesn't do anything but load programs.  It pulls me out of the 21st Century and back to my youth.  That's the Amiga magic.  Going state-of-the-art would ruin that.  The Amiga is like Amish furniture, nobody asks why the Amish don't use naugahyde!

Why then developing and maintaining three OSs with the goal of being 3.1 compliant at the expence of modernity, why not just use the #?UAE, there are ports for almost any platform out there, should give the 3.1 lovers least trouble to make out with the 3.1 API :-)

[freqmax]

There's a huge software base for Amiga that I don't want loose. Most newer versions just don't have that software base.
And in any case there's nothing to prevent loading another OS.

If modernity is the way. Then we might aswell dump all Motorola CPU/OCS/ECS/AGA and go for MIPS/ARM/etc.. + Intel graphics (most open atm).

[A6000]

For anyone who is happy to abandon everything that makes the amiga special, the answer is obvious, get a PC.

[Einstein]

freqmax wrote:
There's a huge software base for Amiga that I don't want loose. Most newer versions just don't have that software base.
And in any case there's nothing to prevent loading another OS.

Like I wrote, why not just use #?UAE ? Use it as X-Amiga or launch it on top of the other real OS that I *know* amiga/3.1 lovers run.

If modernity is the way. Then we might aswell dump all Motorola CPU/OCS/ECS/AGA and go for MIPS/ARM/etc.. + Intel graphics (most open atm).

No I guess we better get back to live in caves while we are at it, or consider what I wrote above..

[Einstein]

A6000 wrote:
For anyone who is happy to abandon everything that makes the amiga special, the answer is obvious, get a PC.

I take it as you use an A6000 for your personal computer needs ?

[A6000]

I have no real need for a computer, I don't even play games much, I use a PC ONLY to access the internet, so my a4000 is more than adequate for my needs.
I will however, get a Natami when I can afford it, with an '060 not a coldfire or ppc.

[Einstein]

A6000 wrote:
I have no real need for a computer, I don't even play games much, I use a PC ONLY to access the internet,

If you have a PC solely to access the internet then you *do* need a computer do you not ?

[A6000]

When I can get a webbrowser for the amiga/natami that does "everything" then I can put the PC in the back of a cupboard.
I can use a library computer, so no, I don't NEED a computer.
I feel a rant coming on about all these "new fangled gadgets". :roll:

[Einstein]

A6000 wrote:
When I can get a webbrowser for the amiga/natami that does "everything" then I can put the PC in the back of a cupboard.
I can use a library computer, so no, I don't NEED a computer.
I feel a rant coming on about all these "new fangled gadgets". :roll:

You still need a computer, that's what you're implying  :-)

[A6000]

OK, I give up, I need a computer, I just don't USE a computer enough to justify the expense.

[persia]

Ok, let's get a state of the art machine, an eight core Penryn, 1 TB hard disk, 8 GB Ram, 512 MB graphics card with a RW Blu-ray drive.  Do AmigaDos hand the multi-cores?  No.  Can it use the video card? No.  Can it access the entire hard disk?  No.  Can it burn a Blu-Ray disk? No.  

What am I going to switch my picture editing from Photoshop, Lightroom & Aperture?  Deluxe Paint? Not bloody likely!  Video Editing from Final Cut to what?  Word Processing colaberation?  Nope.  Spreadsheet with mathematical routines?  Un-un.  Host a PHP website like WordPress or a Java Exo? Sorry mate, no can do.

There's no killer app out there for the Amiga and frankly why would someone bother to write one when it would probably crash the OS, the OS lacks the basic functionality of a modern OS and they could make several orders of magnitude more money with a PC or Mac version.

What would need to be done is that the entire OS would need to be rewritten on top of a Posix OS such as Linux, that is a GUI that approximated Workbench. Who's going to do that?

Realistically the best chance for Amiga is Retro-computing.  where it's dead simple looking graphics and OS and sound give that good retro feeling.

[abbub]

^^^

Absolutely.  Any chance of a 'modern' Amiga is about 12-15 years too late at this point.  Love it for what it is, not for what it could have been or may be in some wild pipe dream.

[A6000]

We are all well aware that it's not just hardware that needs to be updated, the operating system also needs to be upgraded.
BUT, we need to ensure that we end up with something recognisably amigalike, NOT PC like.
There really is no point, and no inclination to reinvent the PC  in the image of the amiga.
I/We want a modern amiga compatible not a PC running UAE or AROS.

In the late 70's, the advice to computer buyers was, choose the software you want to run then buy the computer that runs it.
You have the PC to run your software. The Amigalike is different, it's demand and possession defies logic, so what.

Maybe we will get lucky and someone, or the community will write new software for it. but, truth be told, it does not really matter whether new software is written or not, it will still sell.
The PC is a workhorse, it's for work. The amiga is a hobby, it's for fun.

[Einstein]

persia wrote:
Ok, let's get a state of the art machine, an eight core Penryn, 1 TB hard disk, 8 GB Ram, 512 MB graphics card with a RW Blu-ray drive.  Do AmigaDos hand the multi-cores?  No.  Can it use the video card? No.  Can it access the entire hard disk?  No.  Can it burn a Blu-Ray disk? No.  

What am I going to switch my picture editing from Photoshop, Lightroom & Aperture?  Deluxe Paint? Not bloody likely!  Video Editing from Final Cut to what?  Word Processing colaberation?  Nope.  Spreadsheet with mathematical routines?  Un-un.  Host a PHP website like WordPress or a Java Exo? Sorry mate, no can do.

There's no killer app out there for the Amiga and frankly why would someone bother to write one when it would probably crash the OS, the OS lacks the basic functionality of a modern OS and they could make several orders of magnitude more money with a PC or Mac version.

This is pretty obvious isn't it ? not many would write killer apps for an OS that's technically inferior to alternatives (and with alternatives I'm not implying the overbloated trinity).

What would need to be done is that the entire OS would need to be rewritten on top of a Posix OS such as Linux, that is a GUI that approximated Workbench. Who's going to do that?

You're implying a near impossibilty for that, but you're forgetting the existence of things such as Syllable (Desktop), SkyOS, and Haiku, first two with custom kernels AFAIK, and the third using a prewritten kernel named NewOS, none relying on a #?x kernel.