On the outside looking in

[mlankton]

I'm an outsider looking in. I have had a strong desire to run AmigaOS and MorphOS since they both started releasing. As someone who doesn't have a history with Amiga, I would prefer to get a PegII, to kill two birds with one stone, but I've missed a couple of ebay opportunities. I am not willing to pay the entry fee for a SAM with it's specs and price. I'm still running AmiKit on my Mac until I get my hands on some hardware.

1. If the Mac Mini port is so far along, why doesn't Hyperion finish and release it? I realize that it's a deprecated piece of hardware, but at least it's available, and it would bring new users and developers to the platform.

2. If you're gonna hang on to PPC, make the system cheap enough that people will bite. The specs of a SAM are embarassing compared to the $599 Mac Mini, or a $399 Dell for that matter. $1000 for a SAM system? Really?? and I have a hard-on to run the system, how are most people gonna view that price to benefit ratio? Charge $1k for a system, but include technology that makes it attractive at that price. You have to understand, that besides the Amiga faithful who have to have the latest box, and Amiga developers, this is going to be a hobby box for most buyers.

3. Why not x86? Nothing else would open up the platform for users and developers the way an x86 port would. If it's an issue of drivers, then limit the hardware you support.

I'm just frustrated. I've had an Amiga itch for the last decade, and I haven't scratched it yet.

Amiga, for as long as it hasn't been a going concern, still has this amazing community. NeXT and Be also spawned communities that remained after their respective demises, but not to the extent that Amiga has.

Hyperion has a product that has a built-in following but doesn't seem to do anything to exploit that and grow as a platform. Why would growth of the user and developer bases be a bad thing? As an outsider I don't get it.

[save2600]

Hyperion has a product that has a built-in following but doesn't seem to do anything to exploit that and grow as a platform. Why would growth of the user and developer bases be a bad thing? As an outsider I don't get it.

And never will until you take the Amiga plunge! lol  Seriously - welcome to the site.
Your comments and concerns have all been mirrored and discussed at great length before.
You can perform searches to get answers from a lot of qualified users here. Common
sense really has no place when it comes to this hobby or business. I view the Amiga
platform as a love for the bridge between something electronic and our souls, not to
mention all the warm fuzzies that go along with computing in the 80's.
 
Unfortunately, bad business practices and greed hover over this platform and there's
nothing any of us can do about it besides NOT purchasing overpriced and underspec'd
product. Then you'll be chastised for rebelling because there are those that will say
if you don't purchase, you're destroying any chance of future products. And it's clearly
evident that the powers that be will never listen to the community, which is ironic because
really, we're all they will ever have. Enjoy what's out there currently or not. I've chosen to
upgrade the snot out of my 1987 A2000 instead and have one incredible legacy system that
does things most (even within the community) people are still in denial it can do. Plus it
plays all the games and classic applications you'd expect it to. In the end, it will always
remain a hobby. The wrong people for the right job who are in control are going to make
sure of that.

Who are the colleges of today hiring? They're teaching kids this new math that shows it's
more profitable to sell 500 people a $1000 computer system than 5000 people a $500
computer system. If only they would get a clue from the rest of the industry, but wait...
haven't they had decades to study a successful business model?  ;-)

[persia]

You know I think we worry about the big picture too often, the truth is there is no big picture, the Amiga community is never going to be larger than it is today.  There are no huddled masses waiting for the Amiga to emerge.  We are no longer big enough to pull an "OS X" out of the hat and frankly most of the remaining Amiga users would complain that it's not an Amiga even if it were possible.  

You want cutting edge, get a MacPro and an iPhone, that's no longer what the Amiga community is about.

Once you realise that then the whole situation becomes easier, it's retro, it's hobby.  Enjoy it for what it is.  Get an old 500, a CRT and a lava lamp, put some Chumbawumba, Depeche Mode or Miami Sound Machine on the old iPod and chill out to a game or three.:afro:

[tone007]

Once you realise that then the whole situation becomes easier, it's retro, it's hobby.  Enjoy it for what it is.  Get an old 500, a CRT and a lava lamp, put some Chumbawumba, Depeche Mode or Miami Sound Machine on the old iPod:

Anachronism!

[Cammy]

3. Why not x86? Nothing else would open up the platform for users and developers the way an x86 port would. If it's an issue of drivers, then limit the hardware you support.

Here is AmigaOS for x86 - http://www.icarosdesktop.org

There should be no more complaining! It's here, it works, and it's getting better and more compatible every day.

[amigadave]

The easy answer is to just keep using AmiKit emulated Amiga on your Mac or PC.  It has the best performance of any of the options, runs the most Amiga legacy software and games and can be moved forward to new hardware when you upgrade your Mac or PC.

It is easy for me to say the above since I have a bunch of Classic Amiga models in my home, and an Efika to run MorphOS.  AmiKit via WinUAE on my Dell PC is the fastest and most versatile Amiga I have and my hat is off to all of those that have invested hundreds and thousands of hours of their programming time to create such a complete and great Amiga experience that works on almost all PC hardware of the past and present and should continue far into the future.

With all of this said, I support both camps of Next Generation Amiga systems and have purchased my Efika with plans to eventually help the MorphOS community by improving my programming skills and producing useful code that others will want and use on their own MorphOS systems.

[mlankton]

I have an 8 core 2.8GHz Mac Pro with 14 gigs of ram. I'm an old NeXT guy, and once I made the transition to Apple I saw beyond the Mac GUI and recognized my old system, even better than it had been before. I love it, and would never be without one.

I use AmiKit on my Mac. I also use Aros in VirtualBox on the Mac. They're both fun, but I still want to run OS 4 and MorphOS. I'll just have to wait until the right deal comes along on a Pegasos I guess, unless Hyperion has something more compelling up their sleeve.

[Matt_H]

FYI, it's the MorphOS Team that's working on a MacMini port, not Hyperion (at least publically). We might see the results of their efforts this year.

The buggy OS4 beta for MacMini that leaked out was far from being a usable system. Seems to be dead in the water, though - a strategic blunder, if you ask me.

[mike-]

That pretty much rounds it up i'd say, we'll just have to wait and see what hyperion whips up. Souffle de la amigaos.

I agree with you matt, a port to available powerful hw would be worth it, any hw with just a little more grunt would do, like a ydl

Nice article btw.
http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2009/08/26/amiga-state-of-the-union-august-2009/

[mike-]

Theres a thread about this thread.
http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=29459&forum=2

[coldfish]

I was one of those people who had a PC and an Amiga and was enthused by both.  For me it was no huge leap to shift my hardware interests from Amiga to PC (or any) architecture, so I dont have the same nail biting longing for new hardware many stalwart Amiga fans have.

Confirmed hardware agnostic and probable Amiga heretec. (

[tone007]

I'm on the inside looking out!

[klx300r]

well i bit the bullet and bought a Sam and OS4.1...I fully support Hyperion and Acube for their efforts!
when you see the crazy prices people pay for classic amiga ppc cards and systems it makes me shake my head when the same people think that a Sam and OS4.1 are expensive??

[paolone]

well i bit the bullet and bought a Sam and OS4.1...I fully support Hyperion and Acube for their efforts!
when you see the crazy prices people pay for classic amiga ppc cards and systems it makes me shake my head when the same people think that a Sam and OS4.1 are expensive??

They're the same people who prefer buying exotic and pricey hardware, instead of helping (either by coding or financing) the AROS project, which would finally re-create the Amiga OS and free it from age-old, silly and pointless legal issues and wars between companies.

[spirantho]

@paolone
Please don't be so belligerent. It was bad enough with MorphOS vs. AmigaOS wars, let's not try and start an AROS vs. AmigaOS one....

@mlankton
The problem is that the Amiga is expensive, that's a fact. But don't think of the SAM as being a computer like a PC is, it'll always lose. At the moment the Amiga hardware will always be slower and more expensive... but the point is a PC can't run AmigaOS (no, neither AROS nor MorphOS are AmigaOS). Think of it as being the only machine available that can run AmigaOS - which it is (at the moment). So it's only 800MHz? It makes little difference for most things.

If you want to get into the modern Amiga you'll have to bite the bullet, I'm afraid. But remember one thing - a loaded SAM system is much much cheaper than a high-end classic Amiga when it came out. In fact a loaded SAM is cheaper than an A500 when it came out, in real terms.

Buy a Sam 440.  If you don't like it - sell it. The depreciation on them is tiny compared to most machines. I don't think you will though.....

(Incidentally I own an A1 G4 and a Sam 440ep and I have no intention of letting either of them go.)