Amiga: Hobby or Everyday Computing?

[taunusand]

tonyyeb wrote:
@uncharted
@taunusand

Still no decent web browser though. And yes I am aware of the X-Surf. Too expensive for occasional use.

I agree, but some of us just spend way too much money on our hobbies  :-D
IBrowse is good enough for me, but again I agree, an update would be very nice!

[Kin-Hell]

Hobby here: But Miggys still OWN Bill. He can kiss my Hairy hole!  :-D

PDF & Flash is not a problem here!  ;-)

[darksun9210]

everyday computing? i would say yes, as i usualy "compute" on my amigas everyday or so... but then i don't earn money off my amigas, so in that case, no.
there is a certain element of "cos i can" but then on the otherhand, its amusing, interesting to learn how capable such a machine, with web browsers, APDF, flash players, blah blah blah, can actaully be in a modern world.

work is wintel/solaris-sparc, home is wintel/solaris-x86...

but i'm getting it together with learning C on amiga, so hey, you never know... :-D

at the moment it's a hobbie. but it shares my time with my other half, my DJ stuff, my car stuff, my PC gaming, socializing, and family stuff... so its a slow process i can't dedicate the time i could when i was younger, but i still enjoy it... even when the hard disk dissappears! ;-)

but i'm 100percent with everyone else, sentimentality, and this is my chance to own/use the hardware i drooled of owning when i were a lad :-D

[zylesea]

@ Amigakidd

I use my Pegasos and Efika for most personal use, but sometimes also for my job. But I am a pragmatic guy - I'd call myself stupid wouldn't I also use Win (and Linux). My job is unthinkable w/o Win/Linux (special hardware (drivers), Matlab and Adobe Creative suite). But for some things I use MorphOS or AmigaOS even at work (e.g. Mails, TV-Paint, Hollywood).
Some years ago I did my diploma thesis using AmigaOS and wrote a simulation program (with StormC 4), but that was not a too wise decision, since my Professor wasn't able to run my program, but had to rely entirely on my data delivery. Back than I was trying hard to use Amiga only. Since some years I am much more relaxed and pragmatic and use whatever suits me best (and yes, in quite many cases that is MorphOS). Privately I use MorphOS for more than three quarters of my computing stuff (since Sputnik became better the MorphOS usage share has even increased) and wouldn't miss much if I hadn't the additional Win laptop. But my every day job wouldn't work w/o windows/Linux.

[redfox]

@amigakidd

At work, I earn my living using a pc to access various corporate applications spread across a gigantic corporate WAN network.

However, at home I use my OS4 machine everyday for web browsing and other hobby oriented activities.  I have nothing against pc's (we have some at home as well), it's just more fun to use my amiga software.

---
redfox
   

[yssing]

I would love to say everyday use, but alas, only a hobby computer...
Once upon a time in amiga land, it was an everyday computer.

[pVC]

taunusand wrote:

tonyyeb wrote:
@uncharted
@taunusand

Still no decent web browser though. And yes I am aware of the X-Surf. Too expensive for occasional use.

I agree, but some of us just spend way too much money on our hobbies  :-D
IBrowse is good enough for me, but again I agree, an update would be very nice!

BUT Amiga prices have gone wild and you can sell old hardware for even more than it costed as new! What would you get if you'd invested that money to PC hardware at the time?

[tonyyeb]

pVC wrote:

BUT Amiga prices have gone wild and you can sell old hardware for even more than it costed as new! What would you get if you'd invested that money to PC hardware at the time?

I don't think so.

A600 was £299 new. Ebay: £30
A1200 was £399 new. Ebay: £70
A3000 was £2000+ new. Ebay: Not even close!

[hardlink]

alexh wrote:
Hobby. As an engineer, always use the best tool for the job. Amiga is great for retrogaming.

There is a category missing - professional.
As an engineer, always use the tool you prefer & enjoy for the job (which, in my definition, is the best tool for the job); life is not a rehearsal. I'm still able to use real hardware Amigas at work, and yes, I do get paid for it.

EDIT: I don't work with video, but I do personally know some people at major TV stations here around Washington DC USA that still sometimes use a Video Toaster. Seems that our local news often becomes national USA news, and for editing something really hot in from a local news crew, they say nothing even to this day beats a Toaster in putting something together quick and getting it on the air FIRST (for bragging rights).  

[dovegrace]

While I can (and sometimes do) use my A2000 comfortably as an Everyday Computing machine, it is mostly used as a hobby machine.

I also use it in my other hobbies, such as writing, digital photography & graphic design, and basic web design.  When I finally find a working Toccata card, I'll be using it to record and distribute my podcast  :-)

[kreciu]

Hobby, I like to try new hardware, maximize the potential of this what I have (system patches), make my Workbench "beautiful" , try ScalOS, Magellan come back to Workbench again .

I'm trying to use the Organizer, write something sometimes...

Around 15 years ago A600 was mine only one computer at home (earlier was Amstarad CPC 128!), I was doing every think I could... write, count, make small graphics/pictures (used for home works, school assignment... etc.)

Unfortunately I was to young    :-D  and I was working A600+TV  :boohoo:  :crazy: , graphic card was... yep, not in range... I bought A1200 but... "no money" - and I could by a Pentium 100Mhz/64Mb + Virge 4Mb, "music card"... etc. (used) in price of Amiga graphic card...

PC with it's IExplorer or Netscape... etc. After this 10 years I/we don't have nice web browser.

So I switched for PC :roll: . This change was easy since I started using a PowerPoint, and Excel not only for school, but for a work...

Today my A1200 become my dream machine... this what I wanted to have 10 years age. Now I know what does it mean Os3.9 running 1440x900 in 32-bit (thx. Elbox for Mediator!).

Yea, I know another "story" of old Amiga user... :roll:

[taunusand]

pVC wrote:

taunusand wrote:

tonyyeb wrote:
@uncharted
@taunusand

Still no decent web browser though. And yes I am aware of the X-Surf. Too expensive for occasional use.

I agree, but some of us just spend way too much money on our hobbies  :-D
IBrowse is good enough for me, but again I agree, an update would be very nice!

BUT Amiga prices have gone wild and you can sell old hardware for even more than it costed as new! What would you get if you'd invested that money to PC hardware at the time?

I would not have got what I wanted :-)

[Tenacious]

This thread come up about every other month, grin.

I still happily use mine for my main computer and sometimes for work.  There are some compromises (some file formats, USB, camera card, etc), I can always jump to another platform as required.

[taunusand]

Oh, BTW...
Someone please tell me about this Flash player :-D

[AmigaPapst]

Every day computing on my AmigaOne XE with the great AmigaOS 4. Soon 4.1  :-D

[Nlandas]

Right now it's a hobby for me. I'd like to get my Towerized A4000 to the point where I could use it for more but I'd need a PPC and OS4 for that.

I think the real question in the long run is how many hobbyists are interested/willing to use one as their primary computer if hardware was available to run a new AmigaOS 4.X? How much initial market is there for a new Amiga with modern hardware running AmigaOS.

I for one would love to be using an Amiga as my primary computer again. I have very basic needs which have been discussed in other threads before.

Good modern webbrowser with plugins (Port Firefox)
Good Email client. (Thunderbird or any other)
Basic Word processor/spreadsheet system. (Port OpenOffice.)
Picture viewer/cataloger
MP3 player/cataloger

The rest I can wait on and I know if the market builds developers will come.

-Nyle