How did Amiga influence you?

[ElPolloDiabl]

Okay then, how did Amiga influence you? Did it inspire, change your life philosophy, get you interested in something? Did it have negative effects?

[coldfish]

My experience with Amiga computers set my expectation that computers should "just work."  With Amiga running an app was as simple as putting in a disk and playing. Also, the A500 set my preference for integrated motherboards, with gfx and sound on board for less hassle and better reliability.

It was initially a bit of a culture shock when I moved on to PC's to find that you had to fiddle around quite a bit more and (if you lacked a specific type of sound card for example), you didnt get any sound with some games.

Over time, I got used to the PC and came to appreciate the versatility and availability of the hardware. Eventhough Windows can be a pain at times when configuring some games, I'm impressed by how painless software installation has become considering the absolutely vast variability of hardware between PCs.

It'd still be nice to have computers that "just work" though.

[bloodline]

Probably the Amiga instilled a strong sense of modularity into my concept of how a system should be built.

[ChuckT]

I think the Commodore 64 influenced me more than the Amiga ever did and the Amiga is a good computer.  It is a hobbyist's computer and you can write easy programs yourself.  The Amiga was a bit harder but I can't complain.

Now you pretty much have to go to school if you want to learn professional stuff on the PC.  I think the PC is an appliance and the most user groups do now is learn how to use the internet, Microsoft Word or Excel because no one hardly programs anymore.

[TheGoose]

Made me think I can and should be able to understand an operating system, where and why stuff is located, how it boots, runs. But that kinda turned into a curse later; having to work in Linux and Windoze world, this became less possible, frustrating.

With time, I resigned myself to be an obsequious and hopeless computer user like the rest of the world.

Cheers!

[XDelusion]

Amiga really made my life depressing, because I saw how a computer should work, which, much like my experience using BeOS, was more or less fluid.
When ever I upgraded, I could tell I had upgraded, and even the most minor updated seemed to go a long way...

...then when I finally broke down and bought a Windows machine, the depression set in. Naturally, as everyone knows, in the Windows world, Windows updates as the hardware updates, making sure you never get any use out of those extra resources.

[tone007]

Naturally, as everyone knows, in the Windows world, Windows updates as the hardware updates, making sure you never get any use out of those extra resources.

..maybe if all you do is boot the machine, look at the wallpaper, and shut it down..  Try editing video or encoding large batches of media on a PIII running Windows XP and then again on an i7 machine running Windows 7.  I guarantee you'll appreciate those extra resources.

[KThunder]

Anybody remember the old Disney cartoon "Duck Tales" it had Scrooge McDuck and Heuy, Dewie, and Louie. Anyway Scrooge McDuck had a saying he used lots of time on that show "Work smarter, not harder."

That is what the Amiga always was to me, more efficient, more streamlined, smarter. I always liked the pc, configuring hardware, I knew all DOS commands, and I was reasonably familiar with Mac. The Amiga always seemed to be the best of both worlds.

Both smarter and harder have their merits though, Pcs have increased in cpu power so much it would be foolish to ignore it. That's why AROS has affected me as much as Amiga.

[XDelusion]

I do edit video quite a bit, and yes the gains in hardware improvement are grand, it's just that Windows gets more bloated each and every time.

Granted, they did restore some of the lost resources, when they went from Vista to 7, but I still have 7 just as much as I hated Vista. In fact I'm running XP 32-Bit on my 64-Bit machine just for that fact. There are too many of my old programs that 7 absolutely refuses to run. :/

[KThunder]

What bloat? All modern OS' have significant resource requirements. If MS ignored hardware improvements we would have much more to complain about. An os that can't use 4gigs of ram? can't use hd's over 2gigs? Can't use cdroms?

All operating systems increase in size and capabilities because they have to. Linux, Windows, MacOs, and even Aros are in the same boat. Os 3.1 is what 4 or 5 megs max right? thats bigger than 1.3 and Aros which is a rewrite of 3.1 is much larger.

[radzik]

Whitout I would never interested in 3D graphics, next CAD, next construction+design+visualization.

[ElPolloDiabl]

For me I got into CLI which was similar enough to MS DOS (later on). I positively hated Mac for not being a tinkerer's box.
Using an Amiga, even just fiddling with the icon editor or startup-sequence was an enjoyable, relaxing experience.
I remember the good sport of: Making fun of PC users with their CGA graphics and monotone beep sound.

Amiga got me serious about computers. It was a computer you liked using and wanted more of.

[tone007]

There are too many of my old programs that 7 absolutely refuses to run. :/

Can't hold up progress for a few legacy apps, unfortunately.

Here's the fix, though, XP mode.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

Hint: virtualization is awesome, and will help you get every last bit of performance out of your machines.

[gertsy]

..maybe if all you do is boot the machine, look at the wallpaper, and shut it down..  Try editing video or encoding large batches of media on a PIII running Windows XP and then again on an i7 machine running Windows 7.  I guarantee you'll appreciate those extra resources.

Yes but try encoding video on the same i7 machine running XP Sp3. And I bet (once in the app) you won't notice a difference..


For me the biggest influence from the Amiga for games was co-op games
For Apps it was Tiger Cub. A simple little Midi/Sample program that could produce wonders.
From an OS perspective it was productivity and usabiltiy.  Doing general stuff was fast.

Gertsy.

[tone007]

Yes but try encoding video on the same i7 machine running XP Sp3. And I bet (once in the app) you won't notice a difference..

Good point, futher proves the newer OS isn't "holding back" your hardware.  We wouldn't expect it to run faster on Windows 7, would we?

edit: enough off-topic from me, couldn't leave that issue alone though..