What do you miss when using your Amiga?

[KatManDEW]

What features from OS's on other platforms do you miss when using an Amiga?

Forgive me if I am overlooking some features in OS3.9 (or above). I ordered 3.9 but have not received it yet.

I personally miss copy and paste from just about anywhere to anywhere very much. Like copying text from one application to another.

I miss the ability to highlight sections of strings in input boxes or "gadgets".

I miss right-click drop-dwon menus.

[motorollin]

Right click drop-down menus can be added with MagicMenu. Personally, when I'm using an Amiga I miss:

- Consistent copy and paste
- Consistent keyboard controls
- Exposé
- The ability to actually put files on the desktop rather than putting them somewhere else and having to "leave them out"

--
moto

[KatManDEW]

Thanks for the tip on MagicMenu.

What's - Exposé?

[motorollin]

Exposé is a feature of Mac OS X which resizes and moves all of your open windows so they all fit on the screen at the same time. When you click on one of them it moves all the windows back where they were and brings the one you clicked to the front.

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#tutorial=expose

--
moto

[KatManDEW]

motorollin wrote:
Exposé is a feature of Mac OS X which resizes and moves all of your open windows so they all fit on the screen at the same time. When you click on one of them it moves all the windows back where they were and brings the one you clicked to the front.

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#tutorial=expose

--
moto

I suppose I would have to use it to find out if I think it's handy. I have absolutely now problem whatsoever using a hidden taskbar in XP. I don't worry about "organizing" windows that are open, I just move my mouse to the bottom of the screen and select the window I want to use.

[motorollin]

Well, Exposé isn't for organising windows. It only moves them so you can see them, then moves them back where they were. I used to think the taskbar was fine until I switched to OS X and started using Exposé. I find it much easier. I have a hot-spot in the bottom-right-hand corner of the screen which launches Exposé. It's useful as well for seeing what's on other windows. I do a lot of note-taking as I use my MacBook for all my Uni work. It's great to be able to quickly Exposé to check something in a different window, then just press Escape to bring back the window I was already in and carry on typing. I couldn't live without it now!

There's a nice video of Exposé on YouTube:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2XFMSSrpTqg

--
moto

[SKAN]

I work with Macs and use WinXP on a daily basis, but it's more what I miss OF the Amiga IN them most of the time.
Funny.

[darksun9210]

@SKAN, yeah i'll go with that :lol:

there is a windows XP "power tool" that makes alt-tab show a box containing miniture versions of all your windows so you can select which one you want more easily then just multiple icons of the same application for multiple instances of that app. i think vista does the same by default.

but somewhat related to the above app chooser thing, i don't really need something to select what app i need as i run 4 screens at work, and three screens at home, so have enough screen real estate to have everything open at once, and somewhat visable...

on the amiga, i'd never really run out of workbench space as i don't use them for anything serious anymore.. :-(

as for what i miss,
- ditto on the copy paste thing though.
- i was going to say "flash movies" on the web, but thats been half nailed with a work-around in OS4, and i don't really watch web movies anyway..
- i miss the speed of file operations. opening a folder/draw/directory with a few hundered 8Megapixel pictures and want to just look at them in thumbnail view? sure! want to copy a few gig of data from your camera to your machine? no problem, gimmie a minute or two.
- quickly load a picture, apply a filter or two, save, preview and publish? couple of minutes.
- true stereo sound. i know it was available on the amiga, but to do so, you lost half your sound channels just for left and right to be pretty much the same but with subtle variences for positional audio.
- double clicking on a massive picture, a movie, a DVD.iso, or a music file, and it displaying in full res right there and then.
- printing a full colour picture doesn't take 5-10 minutes
- USB stack that is invisable, just works.
- tcp ip stack that is invisable, just works.
- network speeds not slower than burning a CD/DVD and walking it over to another computer.
- multiuser system. profiles/user space, true user security.

today we are doing just the same as we ever were, just, with true 32bit colour depth and multi-mega-pixel resolutions. with 24bit 96Khz surround sound.

what i DONT miss when using the amiga.
- random drive defrags/virus scans/spyware hunts/windows defender kicking in and hammering the disk right when i need it most.
- the desktop appearing and then maybe 3-4 minutes later, i can actualy click on something to launch it, as all the little system tray aplets launch
- having to wait for it to boot, a reset on an amiga is not a painfull proposition /really/ even with USB/tcpip stacks and graphics card drivers.
- having to "shut down" rather than "off"
- dumb system file structure.
- stolen focus. when i'm typing in one window, i don't expect the window focus to change because someone i know has logged in on MSN, or as my web-browser loads, if i type something into the google toolbar, i don't expect to loose half of it because you've finally loaded the homepage, and switch focus to that while i'm typing.
- noise. my pc has a passive CPU cooler, my GFX card has a passive GPU cooler, the drives are samsung spinpoint quiet drives in a vibration dampening mounts, and the case is lined with accoustic noise absorbing foam. one exhaust fan and the PSU fan. it still makes noise. argh! this is the main reason my PPC miggy doesn't get fired up as much as the other machines.... silence is golden...

[yorgle]

I'll go the other way...

The thing from AmigaOS that I miss when using other systems is the assignable devices.

I'd love to assign a documents: device to /Users/yorgle/Documents  or mods: to /Users/yorgle/Music/mods

and so on.

[ajlwalker]

Developers.

[KatManDEW]

ajlwalker wrote:
Developers.

That's a big 10-4.....

New hardware would be nice too, but it's no good without developers.

[chiark]

Mostly a decent browser.  That's just never going to happen though.

Secondly is keyboard shortcuts for everything.  Sure you can use the mouse with the 'miggy keys and cancel system requesters with L-Amiga B/V, but not everything works that way.

Expose is awesome.  I long for it on my WinXP machine that I have to use for work, and also on the amiga...

[CaptChaos]

The thing from AmigaOS that I miss when using other systems is the assignable devices.  I'd love to assign a documents: device to /Users/yorgle/Documents or mods: to /Users/yorgle/Music/mods  and so on.

Share the folder on the network but only give yourself permission access to it. Then map to it.
In XP this takes around 10 seconds to do.

[taunusand]

darksun9210 wrote:
what i DONT miss when using the amiga.
- random drive defrags/virus scans/spyware hunts/windows defender kicking in and hammering the disk right when i need it most.
- the desktop appearing and then maybe 3-4 minutes later, i can actualy click on something to launch it, as all the little system tray aplets launch
- having to wait for it to boot, a reset on an amiga is not a painfull proposition /really/ even with USB/tcpip stacks and graphics card drivers.
- having to "shut down" rather than "off"
- dumb system file structure.
- stolen focus. when i'm typing in one window, i don't expect the window focus to change because someone i know has logged in on MSN, or as my web-browser loads, if i type something into the google toolbar, i don't expect to loose half of it because you've finally loaded the homepage, and switch focus to that while i'm typing.

I totally have to agree at these points :-)

What I miss most, is a updated web-browser.
*WHEN* I can afford a SAM, I'll probably be happy :-)
(but I'll still use my old miggys!)

[Tenacious]

When using an Amiga:

I miss a simpler external world (www, file formats, etc).  It seems to me that many things have been made more complicated and proprietary but not always better.  I do miss CD writing apps like Toast.  Until recently, I missed USB (I have not installed Deneb yet.)

I don't miss registry files, desktop files, swap files, virtual memory, vast hidden parts of an OS, spyware, user log-in, tragic hippness (Macintosh).


When using any other machine:

I miss the Amiga philosophy, ie: simplicity, multiple ways to accomplish things, an OS so logically organized it seems transparent to me.  I miss Amiga directory utilities.  I miss near realtime responsiveness.  I miss the ram disk.  I miss the machine's dedication to me alone. I miss anonymity (increasingly more precious all the time). I miss the belief that only I am running the show.


When using XP:

I miss not being a target on the net. I miss being the only one in control.  I miss the OS needing my permission to commit something the hard drive or other media.  


When using a Mac:

I miss the OS treating me like an intelligent being.  I miss flexibility, obvious and consistant functionality.


When using Ubuntu (on PS3):

I miss understanding. I miss simplicity. I miss product maturity. I miss a decent flash player and other codecs.



With my Amiga getting older, I will have to rely upon many different machines.

I seem to be a sucker for threads like this one, grin.