Legal issue of Kickstart ROMs

[ElPolloDiabl]

I think the best that could ever happen for the AMIGA community would be freeing the AMIGA Kickstart.

If believe if Kickstart would be free this will give AMIGA a new momentum.

Why do you need it free? Just be abdle to purchase it for say $20 would fine, but you can't do even that.

[biggun]

Why do you need it free? Just be abdle to purchase it for say $20 would fine, but you can't do even that.

You are right. That you can not buy the ROMs at all is a major problem.
Its not even clear who has the right to the OS at all.

I've read that the rights to Kickstart and the OS were not fully legally licensed by AMIGA Inc.
There was a German courtcase once stating that the rigth to the OS were not sold in the gateway sales.

It could be that Kickstart and AMIGA OS are in a legal limbo with no real owner.

[Kronos]

@biggun

Actually that dates back to the C= auction (read it's been looming eversince Escom).

Villagetronic had exclusive rights to distribute the Kick3.1 upgrade packs under C=, so much is clear. What that contract implied in terms of ownership and bundling AmigaOS with non-C= HW has never been cleared.

The judge also didn't claim that it wasn't part of the sale/auction, only the that he could find no evidence that it was ....

[biggun]

@biggun
The judge also didn't claim that it wasn't part of the sale/auction, only the that he could find no evidence that it was ....

I know that several entities tried to license AMIGA OS from AMIGA Inc.
But this failed.
During these discussion AMIGA Inc was ask to provide some proof that they actually own the rights to the OS - which they never did.

[haywirepc]

I've bought a few 3.1 roms on ebay that were burnt not amiga nos.

[Belial6]

I think the best that could ever happen for the AMIGA community would be freeing the AMIGA Kickstart.

If believe if Kickstart would be free this will give AMIGA a new momentum.

This is why I keep hoping someone with the right skill sets will take on the job of porting AROS to 68k.  I know that it isn't totally compatible, but it would be a huge step forward in getting there.

[psxphill]

To be honest, I'm surprised nobody is eBaying "3.2" ROMs with the OS3.9 ROM updates included.

That would be a bit more logical. At least someone might want those.
I can't see why anyone would pay more for a rom than they can get a non working machine for (unless the guy who sold you the non working machine has actually stolen the roms out of it).
 
There can't be that many people who need kickstart roms.

[scuzzb494]

I think with Amiga Inc. and silly billy now dissapeared, its about time they get declared free. If anyone has a complete set of roms I would be happy to host them. If someone threatens to sue me, I'll let everyone know.
 
Legally...
I mean any legal protection for those has to be expired by now, since they are so old. They, along with the source code to all amiga os, especially os3.1+ should just be left to the remaining amiga community.
 
While I appreciate what cloanto and others do, its kind of ridiculous that someone is still trying to make money off of 15 and 20 year old rom images
or 15 and 20 year old operating systems.
 
Just my humble opinion....
 
Steven

And so wrong on so many levels. Such matters should never be decided at the whim of a community let alone an individual. There are rules and mechanisms to protect the intelectual and legal rights of those that are gifted and minded enough to share their produce. No other person has a right to take such property without the express permission of the creator. You start breaking this rule then next thing you know you'll be downloading music of the internet free, downloading films free, downloading games free etc etc. I mean honestly who wants to be associated with that kind of criminal activity.

They don`t belong to you. Simple.

[biggun]

They don`t belong to you. Simple.

Its not that simple.

Imagine some houses on an island close to the coast.
And there is a bridge connecting the island with the coast/ main land.

The people living on this island is our AMIGA community.
The bridge is the OS.

The people on the island need to go to the mainland for the doctor, to get to work etc.
They work be happy to pay a "fee" to use the bridge.

But the company building the bridge went bankrupt and no one knows who owns it no.

This situation is our situation.
People would love to pay a fee to use the bridge - but they can't.

In real live the bridge would be made accessible for the people someway or another.
But not for the AMIGA community.

[persia]

The OS and Kickstart ROMs are available from Cloanto, who has a legal right to sell them.  Go out, buy Amiga Forever. it's a great product, and be happy with your legal ROMs and OS.

[biggun]

The OS and Kickstart ROMs are available from Cloanto, who has a legal right to sell them.  Go out, buy Amiga Forever. it's a great product, and be happy with your legal ROMs and OS.

Yes, that's a great solution for people that want to abandon their AMIGA HW i want to  emulate an AMIGA on PC-HW.

Its like offering a new bridge to another island - all you need to do is abandon your house and build a new house on the another island.

Unfortunately the people who like their island and want to continue living there are abandoned.

[biggun]

I think the situation is like this:

* There are people which like their AMIGA HW and would love to get an updated fixed Kickstart for it.

* There are programmer skilled to update the OS.
Bugs could be fixed. Features could be added.
And all could be cleanly repacked into Kickstart Version "Whatever".
Technical all possible and this could have been done years ago.

And could this be done YES or NO?

[tone007]

Kickstart 3.1 is the last official version and it is available on chip either legally from various vendors, or you can get a buddy to make you some if you don't care about staying legal.

Custom "3.9" ROMs have been burned incorporating Boing Bag fixes, these are not required to run 3.9 and are merely a nice touch.  If you're skilled enough to make a set or know someone who'll make you one, you're lucky, if not, live with the additional "kick" when you boot up. It's not that bad, really.

Any other customizations to Kickstart really only make sense to hackers messing around with their own systems.

[kolla]

@tone007
OK, we'll let you deal with all the people who mess up their systems trying to set up big bisks with big partitions etc.

[tone007]

@tone007
OK, we'll let you deal with all the people who mess up their systems trying to set up big bisks with big partitions etc.

I bet most of them would rather have a quick workaround then shell out cash for ROMs!  Heaven forbid they learn how something works!

[orb85750]

You are right. That you can not buy the ROMs at all is a major problem.
Its not even clear who has the right to the OS at all.

I've read that the rights to Kickstart and the OS were not fully legally licensed by AMIGA Inc.
There was a German courtcase once stating that the rigth to the OS were not sold in the gateway sales.

It could be that Kickstart and AMIGA OS are in a legal limbo with no real owner.

Confusing, but who has licensed Cloanto, and who is accepting their money?  How/Why?