Amiga OS Licensing?

[DerekG]

What is the license on Amiga OS 3.1? Can I use my one set of floppies and install on any machine that has 3.1 ROMs, or do you have to have one set of disks for each machine? In the Windows world, it is one license per machine and you usually have to buy additional licenses for each new machine you install on, even if you only have one set of media. How does this work in AmigaLand?

Thanks. Another newb question I know. :-?

[ZeBeeDee]

One set of discs per OS3.1 machine usually ... but in the real world, it doesn't matter - use the discs on multiple OS3.1 machines.

[Trev]

Every Amiga came with an OS license, so if the system shipped with the Kickstart 3.1 ROM(s), it also shipped with a Workbench 3.1 license.

I'm not positive, but weren't sales of Kickstart ROMs tied to OS licenses at some point? In any case, the OS kernel is in Kickstart. The other bits (CLI, Workbench, etc.) are what come on the disks. These days, no one (apart from the vendor) receives any procedes from the sale of Kickstart/Workbench, and if you do place and order, chances are good you'll get copies of Workbench disks instead of originals. ;-)

Think of it like embedding MSDOS.SYS and IO.SYS in ROM and shipping COMMAND.COM (and MORE, XCOPY, et al) and Windows separately.

[persia]

In the end no one cares, the company that made Amiga Dos 3.1 went out of business and the company that seems to own the Amiga name doesn't have any interest in Amiga Dos, it makes MS Windows games and software to build games form MS Windows and Windows Mobile and hasn't been heard from since the first of February.  

So I'd say license isn't an issue at this point.

[DerekG]

I didn't really think it was an issue, since Amiga, and certainly Commodore, are out of business. I just want to make sure I am in compliance and I didn't see anything in the manuals that came with the upgrade kit concerning licenses.

In General with Amiga software, what is the licensing standard? Or does that even matter anymore? Considering many of those companies are also out of business...

The main reason I ask, is one of the local Freecycle Mods tagged my subject line with *EULA* when I offered to free garage space for folks that have unused Amiga stuff.  :-D  :evilgrin:

[xeron]

In general, if you've got an Amiga with a given kickstart ROM, you've got a license to use the corresponding version of WB. This is because ROMs were usually sold with the disk set, or both were provided with the Amiga. No need to buy another disk set.

The only time that isn't the case would be when someone bought some ROMs without buying a disk set at the time, but that is rare, and really, who is going to know or care?

[dammy]

I didn't really think it was an issue, since Amiga, and certainly Commodore, are out of business. I just want to make sure I am in compliance and I didn't see anything in the manuals that came with the upgrade kit concerning licenses.

Amiga Inc (and Amino) are in business and AFAIK, still receiving royalty checks from Cloanto for their sale of WB/kickstart in their Amiga Forever ISOs.  So it is commercially available and should be used as legal methods of gaining copies of WB/kickstarts.

In General with Amiga software, what is the licensing standard? Or does that even matter anymore? Considering many of those companies are also out of business...

Ignore these pirates and take the high road.  It's doesn't cost much to buy Amiga Forever and that gives you moral and legal protection of purchasing a license.  Cloanto deserves respect and our patronage, unlike Hyperion.

Dammy

[Crumb]

Cloanto deserves respect and our patronage, unlike Hyperion.

I think that Hyperion deserves respect for making OS4. Why so much hostility?

The Frieden brothers and his partners have done an impressive job. You may argue saying that it took them too much time, that you don't like the platform and a long excuse list, but all I see is that you envy the level of usefulness of OS4 (compared to AROS) :-)

[darksun9210]

i always thought the roms were the license.
you run winuae, you can use the rom "images" from your amiga. therefore the acutal rom code is only in use by one machine at a time.

same as mac emulation prior to OS9.1. its perfectly legal provided the machine that the rom images came from is not running at the same time that the emulator running with those rom images is running too.

basicly, one set of roms, one running machine.



on a side note, in my opinion, hyperion deserve to win the lottery and more for all they've done, and not just for OS4. but for the game ports, and all the crap from that money laundering operation known as amiga.inc.

[dammy]

I think that Hyperion deserves respect for making OS4. Why so much hostility?

Evert (and plus Ben before he bailed) botched a six month port into this fiasco and then ignore two contracts (One with Amiga Inc and Eyetech that only allow OS4 sales on Amigas plus Evert sold OS4 to Itec). Cloanto has honored their contract and has provided a great product.  Evert has done what again?  Without Amiga Inc's public blessing, this appears that Evert is attempting to make every possible single dollar, even though it clearly violates his contract with AI and Eyetech not to mention violation of other IP belonging to Amiga Inc.  Shouldn't piracy of IP be publicaly condemned?

The Frieden brothers and his partners have done an impressive job. You may argue saying that it took them too much time, that you don't like the platform and a long excuse list, but all I see is that you envy the level of usefulness of OS4 (compared to AROS)

That is because you ASSume too much. I've given up on AROS, I do not see a significant future for AROS.  That is one of many reasons I gave TeamAROS to Power2People.  I have plenty of my own axes to grind with Amiga Inc, you probably have read enough of my condemnation of AI over the years to know this to be true.  Based on the contract and the laws, I have to support AI over Evert. I hope your not confusing yourself by combining Evert with his subcontractors, like the Frieden brothers, to equal Hyperion?  

All I've been asking is where is Amiga Inc's approval for contract variation to allow OS4 to be sold on a non-Amiga?  Where is it?

Dammy

[DerekG]

Instead of starting a new topic, I am just going to ask here, as it is related. If I remember correctly, when OS 3.5 came out, there were no new ROMS released...you just simply upgraded your 3.1 software on your machine with 3.1 ROMs, or you bought 3.1 ROMS and also bought OS 3.5. Is this correct?

I pretty much left the Amiga scene before OS 3.9 was finalized, or right as it was being released. I don't remember which. My understanding at that time was that it too only required 3.1 ROMs, and no new ROMS were made. Is that correct also, or did that get changed?

At this time I do not have a system that will support OS 4.0 Classic, as my A1200 is stock to my knowledge and I have no idea if it even works, nor the battery condition on the mobo.  Once I find it, I will have to check it out. So back to the original question...if I were to upgrade the ROMs on the 1200, assuming they are still in 2.x, could I purchase ROMs and use my 3.1 disks from my A2000 machine legally? It appears to me by looking at the various dealer sites that ROMs and OSs are sold separately, rather than together. This would indicate that my understanding was correct that the license comes with the ROMs. Is this correct?

Now for the slightly unrelated bit. Would it be beneficial, or wise, to upgrade my A2000 with VT2000 and BCD 2000A, and soon TBC-IV, to OS 3.5 or even 3.9? I believe I have an 030 with 12 Megs RAM...not sure of CPU speed or chip RAM. Been too long to remember for sure. Or, would I cause more harm than good upgrading from 3.1 to 3.5+?

Thanks.