Why do you still use your old Amiga?

[smerf]

Hi,

Has anyone ever noticed that as PC clones advertise faster speeds every year, that they actually seem to run slower. I have a 2.2 Gig hertz PC clone that seems to take longer to load than my old Amiga 1000 on a floppy disk drive. When you ask it to multi task with its huge 512 meg of memory it seems to stutter. Now I would sure like to see an Amiga computer running at 2.2 Gig hertz with 512 meg of memory.

Why do I still use an Amiga, well for one I like the OS feel, I like knowing where my programs are loading into, I like knowing that there is no spy program running in the back ground, I like knowing that no one is watching at what internet sites I visit, if some one does try to sneak in I know that I can call up sysinfo and know what is exactly running on my computer.

In Other Words

I like having control of my computer and also that I can just hit the off switch without having to wait another half hour watching the OS verify the hard disk drive on the next startup.

By the way parts for the Amiga are getting cheaper every day as PC technology improve's.

Smerf

[6]

I have not read the others yet, so forgive any redundancies.

It is the most modern I can get in the Village.

Seriously, it has many advantages.  It will not be obsolete next week.  (It has been for years.)  It is human friendly.  I already know how to use it.  I do not want all the new hardware and software that comes out.  (I have most all I can use in a lifetime, much bought from ebay.)  It is hobby activity.  It makes me think about how to make it work to more or less like other PCs.  (It amuses me to see mine do what my daughter's pentium does - just not as fast.)

You can't just be a software user with an Amiga.  You have to know your hardware too.  I ask my daughter about her system and usually get a "Huh?"  She is a certified web master, a professional programmer and a university student.  But she's all software.

[that_punk_guy]

smerf wrote:

Has anyone ever noticed that as PC clones advertise faster speeds every year, that they actually seem to run slower.... Now I would sure like to see an Amiga computer running at 2.2 Gig hertz with 512 meg of memory.

I read today that IBM actually considered using an MC68000 in the PC but decided against it... because it was "too powerful!"  :-D

(Not too sure about the authenticity of that claim, but it's damn funny  :-).)

[Gil]

Difficult to say why I still stick with my aging A4000... no acellerators, just the 040.  

I have used Macs as well since about 1987 when we got them into the school system here in BC, Canada.  I have grown up with them as well, having started with the Classic and through the LC up to the LCIII, and now with a whole Lab of iMacs, as well as a G3 Administration machine, and a G3 Server.  There are 22 machines in the Lab, three in the Library, and one in each of the 30 teacher's rooms.  On top of this, there are 8 Windows machines all hooked up to the LAN.

I am the administrator for the whole system.  I have to fight with them on a daily basis and often have to call in the Big Guns, the school districts, at least once a week.  I have printing issues daily!  I have machines that refuse to print to one printer, yet will to another.... and then change their mind the next day and print on the first and NOT on the second.  I have scanner issues regularly.  I am called from my classroom at least three times a day by frustrated teachers who cannot get their kids on to the computer either in the Lab or in the classroom.  I get at least a half dozen lockups a day, and the server freezes everyone out, including the office, at least once a week, and has to be rebooted.  The techs cannot figure it out, and we have had at least 3 or four monkeying around trying to "fix things" much too often.  

I use PageStream almost daily personally for worksheets.  I have it on my machine at school and my Amiga at home.  I transfer files via the Net.  Time and time again the iMac or the Admin mahcine will NOT be able to print something... no matter whether I start from scratch at school or transfer it from home.  I cannot count the number of hours I have spent up there over the last few years on weekends sorting things out!

I get home, sit down to my Amiga 4000, and except for speed of rendering graphics, I am in heaven.  I have not had a crash with PageStream on my Amiga in ages.... cannot remember the last time I did, really.  I can print anything I make at home, or send from school, and my Amiga 4000 and Lexmark 4039-12R will print it out.  Yes, the pace may be less rapid, but the dependability is not a trifling matter!!!

As well, the OS on the Amiga is more "logical" in the way it works as far as I am concerned.  I have a great love for DOpus on my Amiga.  I find the Mac and the Windows ways of dealing with manipulation of files a real PITA!!!!   Possibly DOpus is the reason, but I can get more done in 10 minutes on the Amiga when I am moving files than I can get done in half an hour with either system I am responsible for maintaining.  

Yes, I miss the speed.  Yes, I miss Flash on my Amiga browser.  Yes, I would like to be able to use quite a few programs on my Amiga that I use at school.  However, in the end, I have less stress with my Amiga.  DON'T let that make you think the Amiga has NOT ever given me problems... I have had Hard Disk crashes a couple of times the week before report cards have to be handed in... and THAT was not fun.  I swore the Amiga was giving me a little reminder as to how much I rely on it...  : ))))

Hope that helps.

Gil
Sardis, BC

[Nightcrawler]

I've decided to stop using my Amiga and only use my Wintel box. Why? Because I tend to forget what a piece of crap Windows is after a while, but as soon as I switch on the A1200 it all comes back resulting in hours of hysterical screaming and punching things.  :-D

[Hammer]

 Why do we need PC's that run at 3ghz but the software being sold will run the same on a less than 1ghz system.
 

To run UT2003 (or any DirectX 8.1/9.X class games) (at least 1024 x 768 x 32bit res @ maximum details("holy $hit" mode)) with custom map "2019". 512MB of PC3200 DDR SDRAM is not enough. Installing 1GB of memory seems to fix** the occasional jerky frame rates (**due to reduction of VM access).

[Erchin]

"If micro$oft was to start writing software for the Amiga we would have a come back"

You've got to be joking?! If they ever got involved with the AmigaOs and its programs I would run the other way. The last thing I would want to see happen is to have my sweet working system working like crap because some programmers thought it should be bloated and irritating as .... well, I'm sure you get my meaning.

[shIva]

"If micro$oft was to start writing software for the Amiga we would have a come back"

wasn´t amiga basic from m$ ? this one was (imho) crap :-(

[Longshanks]

Quite a long time since I made a posting in one of these forums
- so long that my account got deleted (ho hum , never
mind , it didn't take that long to re-register).

There are loads of reasons in here to use an Amiga .
Some are practical , some are sentimental . How about a
political reason - I don't want to contribute to the profits of
the MegaShaft corporation . Bill Gates has more than enough
money already .  To avoid using WinDoze takes an amount of
ingenuity & determination  but it can be done . My A1200
still does most of what I want it to do & for most of the time
the difference in speed compared to the PeeCee at work is not
that noticeable . It's not all about blindingly fast processors
& ludicrous amounts of ram .

Has anyone mentioned the Ram disk as an amazingly useful
feature of the Amiga that a PeeCee just can't match ? . . . . .
Could go on  but I don't want to just repeat what's already
been said .  Did anyone mention that it's FUN using a miggy ? :-)

[eidofoor]

I too use an amiga because I want to.

I don't use an pc because I don't have to.

And that is fine by me because whenever I use a PC I have the distinct impression that I am not in control.
The OS is telling me what and what not to do and is keeping tabs on all my actions. Stunning to see a machine that is even more paranoid then I am!

Besides. The PC is soon to be an outdated concept. Even dumpass consumers are getting tired of it. And within a few years we have newsgroups asking why nobody isn't using old crappy PC hardware. And the answer would be simple. No more Microsoft support.

[bhyman1]

I still use Amiga's for video work.

I have an A4000 with a Supergen SX working as a Character Generator. For the money it looks better than a current product.

I also have a Toaster I use occassionally.

[JC]

 So, what are your reasons?

I still use my A4000 regularly and I have an A500 and A2000 that I toy with. A friend of mine has asked me to put together an Amiga system for his kids to learn on, so I'm preparing to fix him up with something. There's no substitute for the fantastic Amiga OS. jerimycampbell@yahoo.com

[Knapster]

I came back to using the amiga about a year ago after picking up an A4000, monitor, printer I came accross by accident in a classified ad.

Since then I suppose I've rediscovered the joys of the amiga, the logical simplicity, the speed and the excellent multitasking. I use XP at work and lets face it, the task switching sucks. I click on the prog I want to use on the task bar and it brings up a different window to the one I wanted! The citrix server crashes many times per day and gives me so much more work to do than if it actually WORKED!

I think the latest virus threats just show what a disaster a computer 'monoculture' will lead to. If I get these troubles with XP, then surely everyone must too, meaning one company is bringing economic loss and inefficiency while milking companies for tech support and 'upgrades'.

Yeah, amiga is sort of a hobby and just fun really. But fun isn't to trivialise amiga or its OS - even if 'amigans' keep their old machines for nostalga, the amigan attitude to computing is still to look for something comparable to that old machine and something in the spirit of that OS - be it OS4 or whatever.

[adz]

Recently I came across my A2000HD and my A500 (also owned an A600 at some stage, but that was sold off) sitting in the cupboard collecting dust (completely forgot I even had them...weird). I hooked them up and to my surprise they both still worked. Sadly,  the A500 seems to be dying and the A2000 has a flakey CIA and a leaky battery, but hey eventually I'll fix them both.

Anyway, it was such a step back in time for me, I completely forgot how much fun the Amiga was to use (though I hate how WB won't let you switch between open windows).

Being the rather inpatient person that I am, I couldn't wait to find the time to get my old Amigas fully working again, so, through one of the people I have met from the Amiga community in Melbourne, I bought myself an A1200, nothing fancy, but better than stock, just so I can enjoy the Amiga experience again.

Eventually I will probably tower it and add a few upgrades, mainly for the fun of it though, not to use it as my main computer as I have a rather speedy Athlon based system for that.

Sadly, while reading through a lot of the post in this thread, I noticed that a lot of people seem to can x86 based systems as well as Windows. I would just like to go on record as saying that in the 10 years or so that I have been working with x86 based systems and Windows, very rarly have I ever experienced any problems, it all comes down to the quality of your hardware and how much time you put into configuring your OS.

For around 3 years I worked as a tech in a shop, and on countless occaisions I came across people with the same problem "My computer always crashes", 9 times out of 10, it was to do with poor configuration or dodgy 3rd party software, hardly ever was it just Windows.

Sorry for babbling on, but I felt my opinion should be heard as I have experienced nothing but enjoyment from all of the computer systems I have owned, from my C64 to my current Athlon.

[Hammer]

…

Has anyone mentioned the Ram disk as an amazingly useful
feature of the Amiga that a PeeCee just can't match ? . . .
 

Note that RAM disk feature can be access via WinUAE. Also note that Amiga is a PC, just not IBM PC/AT compatible (not factoring Amiga’s X86 emulators) .  

[DoomMaster]

I use my 3 Amiga 2000HD computers mainly for playing my over 1000 classic Amiga games and for PC game development (graphics and sound).  I create the actual game levels on my Pentium 4 PC.     :-P