Good News Is Here (OS 4.1&SAM440 amigakit.com)

[klx300r]

 @ Nlandas

well put :bow:

[Hans_]

One question:

   I hadn't read and didn't have time to Google. Does OS 4.1 somehow emulate 68K or are you only able to run native PPC code? Which would mean even old system friendly 68K applications wouldn't run on it.

Amiga OS 4.1 has the Petunia 68K JIT emulator which was also part of Amiga OS 4.0. So yes, it can run system friendly apps.

Hans

[DFergATL]

I do hope they come down in price some.  I don't mind paying a premium for AmigaOS but I just don't have that kind of money right now.  Now matter how much I want it.  And I don't even have a wife I have to go through  :-D   But the mortgage company might get upset if I skip a payment or two.   :crazy:

[Nlandas]

Hans_ wrote:

Nyle wrote:
   I hadn't read and didn't have time to Google. Does OS 4.1 somehow emulate 68K or are you only able to run native PPC code?

Amiga OS 4.1 has the Petunia 68K JIT emulator which was also part of Amiga OS 4.0. So yes, it can run system friendly apps.

Hans

Thanks Hans. I appreciate the time and information. I thought it might but didn't want to assume.

-Nyle

[Nlandas]

DFergATL wrote:
  And I don't even have a wife I have to go through  :-D   But the mortgage company might get upset if I skip a payment or two.   :crazy:

     Let me preface this in that I am not picking on you but the situation over here right now. It looks like you might be State side like me. ;-)

   Ah, come on - :idea: if you live in the US just claim that the evil broker tricked you into buying a low rate ARM and you can't possible afford the house on your salary.   :lol:

    Once you've missed a few payments call the bank and tell them you want them to lower the interest or you'll default.  :crazy:  Then you'll have a lower payment and a nice SAM440 + OS 4.1 system.  

[Andeda]

Straight away, at least they did so with my OS4.1

THX1138 wrote:
@AmigaKit.com

If I pre-ordered a Sam440 board,when would you take payment from my debit card ?

Straight away or when its dispatched ?

[DFergATL]

Problem is I was too smart to fall for the ARM thing when they tried to get me to do that.  So I have a fixed rate...  Good Idea thought, might have to give it some thought.  I have already put the word out to all friends and family.  All I want for my B-Day and Christmas is money, money to buy a Miggy :-D

[amigadave]

AeroMan wrote:
Just take into account that the PS3 is the best cost benefit solution available. Can you buy a bunch of GPUs  and make them work for the same price?

Besides this, the PS3 still has a blue ray, and really cool games.

I can´t think about a better port. Price is nice, performance is nice, it has nice games, can run Linux (if you wish) and it is already PPC. You might not like the PPC, but OS4 is already written for it, so it means porting is easier than to x86.

If you want to stick with x86, them supporting AROS is a better alternative. It is already running with this processor and it is free also. Give it a try

I agree, PS3 may not be the best we can get in the long run, but it is the best we could get quickly and at a good cost to benefit ratio.  Blu-Ray is a big benefit, having PS3 games is also a plus, Linux for those who want to bother with it, PS3 just seems to make the most sense for the next step.  Then, if there are still any developers that want to continue coding for AmigaOS beyond to an x86/64 architecture, have at it.

My feeling is that with the efficiency of AmigaOS4.x, the PS3 could make it fly and perhaps those coding for the AOS could switch to writing code for applications that are badly needed, instead of having to continually work on the AOS.  Yes, I know that to keep up with some kind of semblance of being a "Modern" OS that continuing work must be done, but if they could complete a good port to the PS3, perhaps they could take a break from the OS for a few months and help complete a browser that can compete with Firefox3, Opera, Safari, etc.  Just something that works and has most of the bells and whistles that other browsers have.

After that, if they could help get Open Office ported, we might be able to use this new Amiga as an everyday computer without need to boot into Windows, MacOS, or Linux for anything.

Not likely, I know, but not impossible either.  :-D

Edit: If AmigaOS4.3, or 4.5 were ported to the PS3, (and it worked at least as well or better than 4.1, with continuing work to squash any bugs) I would gladly spend up to $250, or $300 just for the OS and find a used PS3 somewhere. And I am currently a MorphOS user! (Of course that may change if MorphOS3.x is released for my PPC Mac PowerBook  :-o )

[persia]

Yes, the Amiga is a niche market and will always be one. Think of it this way, a successful OS4 debut will be sales in the 100s and lifetime sales won't be much over a thousand.  It's a tiny point compared with Mac or PC.  So I think you are paying for that as much as anything.

[Gebrochen]

@ Andeda,
so you bought a sam package also, cool.

@ Nlandas
Thank you for the confidence

@ Hans
Interesting, how much higher is the clock speed of the grpaihcs then on the sam??

@ Persia
so if a successful debut for amiga is about 100 sales upfront, then they mustve only sold 50 sam boards with the 533Mhz version, is indirectly what your saying??

Cheers

 8-)  8-)  8-)  8-)

[amigadave]

persia wrote:
Yes, the Amiga is a niche market and will always be one. Think of it this way, a successful OS4 debut will be sales in the 100s and lifetime sales won't be much over a thousand.  It's a tiny point compared with Mac or PC.  So I think you are paying for that as much as anything.

I don't know if the developers of AOS4.1 will agree that a couple hundred sales is "Successful" launch, but I wish they would realize that they would have a much greater chance to sell over the 1,000 mark in sales, if they would complete the Moana project and get AOS4.x running on as many PPC Macs as possible.  They have shown that they are not afraid of A.Inc at the moment by releasing AOS4.1 on a platform that is not covered by the contract they claim is void due to A.Inc's insolvency, so why not port AOS4.2 to a platform that will triple or quadruple their sales overnight?

That would most likely provide the funding and incentive to port AOS to another platform (like the PS3, or x86).

AOS4.x on PPC Macs would also increase the number of Amiga users by at least a few dozen, if not a few hundred returning Amiga users of old and curious users from other platforms.

If we gained just 10 new developers for the AmigaOS community, it would be a good success.

[NovaCoder]

Very good news.

What would be even better, if it was sold as a complete computer (case/keyboard/mouse & optional monitor).  And it would be even better if they were allowed to brand it an Amiga.

 

[DavidF215]

amigadave wrote:
>If we gained just 10 new developers for the AmigaOS community, it would be a good success.

So grab a C/C++ book and start coding. Then there's only 9 more needed.  :-)  Even small programs and games would be beneficial.

[persia]

What is the global Amiga market place?  It's tiny, Hyperion would sell more if Moana would be finished, but how many more?  And the cost would be Acube.  Who'd by Sam when they can get more than twice the power at less than half the cost by getting a used G4 mini?

I would love to not have to buy a Sam board and just go with a cheaper Mac, but nobody is building PPC equipment anymore, so in a way the Sam board is supporting the continued building of Amiga compatible PPC computers.  We are at the end of the line, if ACube goes there will be no-one to take it's place.  Is that worth having a few dozen more users?

[coldfish]

Good news for those who want to run OS4.

I don't think this will grow the community much, but then I doubt the players had that in mind.  There's a small market for premium-priced new hardware among the existing community and this is the target.

I'm too tight-arsed to be enthused. I prefer my Amiga-fun cheap and cheerful, in emulated form. And cant be bothered with closed-source niche OS's that have scarce developer support.

[amigadave]

DavidF215 wrote:
amigadave wrote:
>If we gained just 10 new developers for the AmigaOS community, it would be a good success.

So grab a C/C++ book and start coding. Then there's only 9 more needed.  :-)  Even small programs and games would be beneficial.

I would, but I have already spent my little bit of money on the EFIKA and I am supporting the MorphOS group by registering MOS2.1 and will be learning to code for that platform.  If anything I do code can be easily ported also to AmigaOS4.x by using a cross compiler on my MacBook, or my Dell XPS tower running Linux or Windows XP, I will gladly support the AmigaOS4.x users by porting my work.

In other words, a few weeks ago I decided to put my money and time where my mouth was and picked MorphOS as my future Amiga-Like OS of choice to buy and code for.  I did not want to be a hypocrite anymore, by telling everyone to support our developers and not doing it myself.  At the time I felt that Hyperion and AmigaOS4.x would still be tied up in court for who knows how long and I liked the progress that MorphOS has made and the affordability that the EFIKA has given us, so I took the plunge.

I might be persuaded to support AmigaOS4.x in the future as well as MorphOS2.1 and beyond, but for now, the SAM is too expensive for me and as I am just learning more about programming, I will stick with just MorphOS.