Workbench 5.0??

[TheDaddy]

It is Linux with Amiga Workbench look, feel and emulation. They also provide WINE to play some Windows games and a dual boot with WinXP/Win7 installed on the HD (dual boot).

[amigadave]

It is Linux with Amiga Workbench look, feel and emulation. They also provide WINE to play some Windows games and a dual boot with WinXP/Win7 installed on the HD (dual boot).

I don't see where they have made anything to sell yet.  The preproduction pictures of the cloned C64 case looks like a toy of very poor quality that even if I were an old C64 user, would never buy.  Other than paying some plastic company to copy the C64 case, has Commodore USA actually produced anything that they have shown?  All I can figure out from their site and what they have written, is that they are a company that has raised some investment capital to purchase the rights to use the Commodore and Amiga names and has plans to re-badge other companies products and other peoples emulation and software, so they can make a buck on nothing new or interesting.  Does anyone have any knowledge of Commodore USA employing any developers to write one line of code for any new "Workbench 5.0"?  Does anyone know of any hardware that Commodore USA is making that is not just some other company's product that they are replacing a badge with a Commodore, or Amiga badge?

I wonder if Barry's investors have any idea what they have invested in? (and how long will he be able to fool them, since he isn't fooling any of the existing Amiga users about what he is doing, or trying to do)

[motorollin]

CUSA seems to be all hot air.

[Digiman]

I knew straight away it was some kind of AROS/Linux rubbish.

@Franko-as for ripping off Cloanto, well they didn't write WinUAE and any additions they made to it make it harder to use than the 'free' version called WinUAE so I couldn't give a crap about that scumbag company.

I don't see where they have made anything to sell yet.  The preproduction pictures of the cloned C64 case looks like a toy of very poor quality that even if I were an old C64 user, would never buy.

Well if he had produced the keyboard EXACTLY as in the renders ie a real C64 keyboard clone then I might consider it. Especially if you could use 9 pin joysticks on it etc.

As it stands the keyboard looks fud and you will need USB joysticks (all crap).

Oh and he chose the wrong case, the original case design looks inferior to the 64C mk2 version IMO.

Again if he reproduced the Amiga keyboard perfectly (screw Apple/Microsoft users wanting their own keys on keyboard) and a 9pin joystick interface like Stelladaptor inside I would be happier.

His 30 million budget is not enough to do this, as I suspect a budget of 30 million russian potatoes = £234.71p in reality

Maybe when we see the Commodore USA adverts on TV all will become clear...no wait there won't be any! :roflmao:

[Sandman]

I think no one should make anything commodore/amiga related new and just let the machines die in peace.  

I'm fairly new here but just about everytime I see any new commodore/amiga hardware being purposed, it just gets shreaded to death in a forum.  

Why is this?

Makes me feel if I was in the position to create something for our machines, why would I bother.....

[AmigaNG]

Makes me feel if I was in the position to create something for our machines, why would I bother.....

I've highlighted the problem for you, they are not making anything for our machines, they are making a all new platform, thats pretty much linux based. So they should be targeting linux community more than us.

Plus they haven't helped matters by the way they first introduce them self to the amiga market, few examples: i going to sue OS news for a bad report, amiga.org who gave you the rights to that name! we will just copy some text here steal that image and design their, to reporters and chumps we will be supporting and helping AROS to develop and evolve, to aros users and developers aros means nothing to us.   I could go on, I wish I couldn't but thats just how bad they have been, a shame as if they had just been open and honestest and a bit smarter from the start they could avoided a lot of the bashing.

[runequester]

I've highlighted the problem for you, they are not making anything for our machines, they are making a all new platform, thats pretty much linux based. So they should be targeting linux community more than us.

Plus they haven't helped matters by the way they first introduce them self to the amiga market, few examples: i going to sue OS news for a bad report, amiga.org who gave you the rights to that name! we will just copy some text here steal that image and design their, to reporters and chumps we will be supporting and helping AROS to develop and evolve, to aros users and developers aros means nothing to us.   I could go on, I wish I couldn't but thats just how bad they haven been, a shame as if they had just been open and honestest and a bit smarter from the start they could avoided a lot of the bashing.

That would seem to be the difference between an actual business that wants to make money, and well.. whatever these guys turn out to be. For all I know, might be another tax shelter amiga.inc style

[klx300r]

So what's all this then?

http://www.commodoreusa.net/CUSA_OS.aspx

Is this even AmigaDOS-based?  Does this have anything to do with AmigaOS 4.1?  I assume not.  Screenshots?

old news mate..PC's with Commodore/Amiga stickers ..Linux distro named Workbench 5.0 is just so damn pathetic:angry:...

hey Franko try explaining this to your fellow inmates:roflmao:

[EDanaII]

@ All

My assessment is that they are attempting to do what Apple did: create a new OS with Linux -- Apple used Darwin -- at its base. Mostly I see a lot of what is normal for the Amiga community: big dreams. Until they change their business model -- sell Commodore labeled cases -- I suspect all this is gonna be is a dream.

Speaking for myself, they're certainly of no interest to me, as my only remaining interest in Amiga is the OS and they, effectively, are abandoning it.

[the_leander]

I've highlighted the problem for you, they are not making anything for our machines, they are making a all new platform, thats pretty much linux based. So they should be targeting linux community more than us.

Tbh I can't really see what they have to offer the linux community - yet another window manager that kinda looks like something that was in use 20 years ago using form factors that again are pure retro crowd pleasers... Verses most of the current system builders who offer maybe a couple of distros each, but basically supply vanilla installs on standard hardware...

Welp, good luck!

Plus they haven't helped matters by the way they first introduce them self to the amiga market, few examples: i going to sue OS news for a bad report, amiga.org who gave you the rights to that name! we will just copy some text here steal that image and design their, to reporters and chumps we will be supporting and helping AROS to develop and evolve, to aros users and developers aros means nothing to us.   I could go on, I wish I couldn't but thats just how bad they have been, a shame as if they had just been open and honestest and a bit smarter from the start they could avoided a lot of the bashing.

Snap.

[motorollin]

@ All

My assessment is that they are attempting to do what Apple did: create a new OS with Linux -- Apple used Darwin -- at its base.

I doubt Commodore USA have either the resources or the skill to achieve anything like that.

[yssing]

imagine if some one actually finished Amiga Anywhere..
Then we could all play with the little snowman on expensive x86 hw.

That would be awesome.. right?? wouldn't it??? guys???

[whabang]

To be honest it isn't that hard to make a few Workbench-styled themes for some light-weight window manager, combine them with some scripts and create a deb, and then make a custom Debian install.

How competent are the linux forks of UAE? It could be as simple as a linux boot loader for AmigaOS in an emulator.

[the_leander]

To be honest it isn't that hard to make a few Workbench-styled themes for some light-weight window manager, combine them with some scripts and create a deb, and then make a custom Debian install.

How competent are the linux forks of UAE? It could be as simple as a linux boot loader for AmigaOS in an emulator.

The problem though isn't the difficulty, it's the point. Many of the design decisions in Workbench made sense at the time, or were even cutting edge but would look very dated or even archaic against a modern desktop. Today things have moved on somewhat and I really question whether something that went even slightly beyond simply just producing a skin for LXDE or similar would be in any way worthwhile from the point of view of mainstream Linux users given the alternatives already in the market.

I'm not saying that there isn't the space for another player, I'm curious though as to whether or not there is enough space.

[EDanaII]

I doubt Commodore USA have either the resources or the skill to achieve anything like that.

In their defense, Moto, they're a startup and startups seldom have the skills or resources initially. The plan to create an Linux based OS is a _long term_ plan and will only likely be realized depending on the success of their short-term plans: create Commodore branded hardware.

This is, unfortunately, where I doubt their success. Since they are effectively marketing nostalgia, I expect they can sell some hardware numbering in the thousands, possibly in the tens of thousands, but I suspect they need to sell hardware in the hundreds of thousands, even millions before they have enough to sustain the skills and resources required to actively support their long term plans.

Or, more accurately: if it's a plain off-the-internet Linux distro, then they can sell 1 unit a month and have the resources they need, Ubuntu, for example, is still free. If it's a brand new written from scratch OS, then, yes, they'd have to sell in high volumes to support it. What they can actually achieve will simply depend on how many units they actually move.

Only time will tell.

But the only value-add they can currently give to their potential customers is the Commodore brand and after 17+ years of non-existence, I doubt that's worth very much.

[motorollin]

In their defense, Moto, they're a startup and startups seldom have the skills or resources initially.

They also seldom make outlandish claims of $30 million budgets with a web site cobbled together from pictures they found on the Internet :rolleyes: