Which OS Would Be The Best Amiga Way Forward...

[Karlos]

I always like the Amithlon big-endian-memory-model for 68K emulation on little endian architectures. For x86 you will naturally lose some performance doing the byteswap for every 16/32/64-bit access (although emulation various memory to memory moves would not need it) but you have such a huge performance starting point (especially now) that I'm quite sure it would outperform currently available PPC-based amiga compatible systems.

[smerf]

I'm surprised you thought you needed to.

While it certainly is possible to replicate MorphOS kind of emulation on big endian systems, emuamiga isn't it (even when running on big endian systems).

Hi,

@Piru,

Excuse me for asking, but are you one of the programmers for morphos?

I seem to be a little ignorant on these issues?

If you are do you have a morphos that runs on the AGA chipset?

Once again, even thought I knock down most programs like AROS, MorphOs and Natamie I realize that most of these programmers do it during there spare time and have taken on a huge effort, so, I think I and the Amiga community should give these guys a big hand and I wish I only had the time and the knowledge to program as these people. Some times I think I see a really wasted effort because of not using the modern day CPU's, but one thing I have come down to the conclusion of is that many of these projects have started many years ago when PPC chips where the in thing, and many Amiga owners (including myself) did not want to see an Intel chip anywhere near the Amiga scene.

SO

even though I really hate to admit it

Keep on programming

All of us in the Amiga Community should give you all a big hand for the alternative methods that we are seeing.

I just hate MorphOS because

Sometimes I feel like a MAC, Sometimes I don't.

My whole thing with Apple is that Steve Jobs is a total egotistical bratstard that I will never work for again. Its either his way or the highway, or he will hold temper tantrums and go off crying in his office.

smerf

[Piru]

Hi,

@Piru,

Excuse me for asking, but are you one of the programmers for morphos?

Yes, since year 2000 or so.

If you are do you have a morphos that runs on the AGA chipset?

Nope. MorphOS has always required a graphics card. See here for some information about supported HW: http://powerup.morphos-team.net/

[Piru]

I voted Aros after reading what everyone was saying about it but when I wen to its source forge page, they barely mention using it on classic hardware.  Where can I find info about the AROS ROMs and "Amiga Classic" specific stuff?

Try here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Aros/Platforms/68k_support

[smerf]

Hi,

@Piru,

Thanks for the information, always did respect you and your posting, now I am really going to have to think, do I want to upgrade the Amiga 1200 to a graphics card set which would probably set me back about $500, or do I want to swallow my pride and buy a G4 mini mac for about $250. Really want to see what MorphOs is about. Well got to do some heavy thinking.

smerf

[Piru]

Hi,

@Piru,

Thanks for the information, always did respect you and your posting, now I am really going to have to think, do I want to upgrade the Amiga 1200 to a graphics card set which would probably set me back about $500

Considering we no longer support the classic amiga version (and it isn't possible to register it), I wouldn't recommend this option. Oh, Mac mini G4 is something like >10x faster too.

or do I want to swallow my pride and buy a G4 mini mac for about $250. Really want to see what MorphOs is about. Well got to do some heavy thinking.

No relatives or friends with a supported mac? You could safely boot those machines from the MorphOS CD to give it a try (no need to install anything, it works as a livecd then).

[wawrzon]

I voted Aros after reading what everyone was saying about it but when I wen to its source forge page, they barely mention using it on classic hardware.  Where can I find info about the AROS ROMs and "Amiga Classic" specific stuff?

ive posted a short instruction how to run an aros68k nightly on amiga earlier this thread. note that things get broken every once in a while which seems currently be the case.

[vidarh]

(Since there is no way that emuamiga could possibly support every possible library/device/resource out there, it must allow loading up 68k only components on the emulation side. Since these components are unknown beforehand there is no way emuamiga can know how to set up translation between the structures being used, nor can they be mapped to AROS equivalents).

No, but it can support every known one, and since the set of m68k software is fairly static I doubt that will be that much of a problem as long as a smart method of defining translation mappings for new libraries is added.

A lot of things that are "impossible" for the general case are fairly manageable for the restricted case of handling a, for most intents and purposes, mostly unchanging set.

[amigadave]

Not to be much of a blue troll, but I am surprised that OS 4.1 is slightly ahead of morphOS.

Not many MorphOS users visit here, not as many as the OS4.x crowd.

Edit:  Plus, even though I think that MorphOS is the best choice for now and the near future, I voted for AROS as the best way for a long term future.  Maybe some other MorphOS users did the same, instead of making this just another popular vote contest.

[lsmart]

MorphOS is way ahead of any and all of the competition in the Amiga field.

 And of course you yourself are way ahead of all other users, which is why you use it, right?

[Franko]

Not many MorphOS users visit here, not as many as the OS4.x crowd.

Edit:  Plus, even though I think that MorphOS is the best choice for now and the near future, I voted for AROS as the best way for a long term future.  Maybe some other MorphOS users did the same, instead of making this just another popular vote contest.

I didn't think of it being just a popular vote and from most of the reply's it would seem folk have given their reasons for the way they voted...

It would be kinda interesting to know between this poll and Amigadave's poll of "How long you have been using Amiga computers" just if peoples age or length of time being an Amiga user affects just how they voted for whichever OS in this poll...

As Amigadaves poll shows so far that around 68% of voters have been using Amigas for over 20 years and 50% of voters in this poll have so far voted AROS...

I know it isn't accurate by a long shot but from these results you could draw the conclusion that it seems to be long time Amiga users that favour AROS and that those newer to the Amiga scene (if you can call users of less than 20 years newbies) more in favour of OS4.X or MorphOS...

Don't suppose there is any real way one could draw any accurate figures from both polls to reflect this, perhaps someone could come up with a better poll that could combine the two and see if age & length of time being an Amiga user has an effect on which OS system a person would choose...

I dunno why but I've always had the idea that older and long term users would have chosen MorphOS and newer and younger users would have chosen AROS or OS4.X...

[lsmart]

Amiga clock is trivial and isolated application. The only interface it has is a window. Real life applications are much more complex and interact with the host environment in various complex ways.

You can´t expect the EmuAmiga guys to have a full working version when they are just starting out. If they keep at it, they will have a much better situation then e.g. the WINE-team because they already have source compatibitly. Compared to a Windows-ABI their job is indeed closer to the trivial side. It will take time though and the other guys are definitely ahead on this one.

Well if 30% of the Amiga-apps face a deadlock in version 1.0 of EmuAmiga version it is still a great step forward compared to having just UAE. If they get DeluxePaint working in 2.0 I´d be pretty impressed, but not surprised.

[TheBilgeRat]

I voted AROS for the open source reason as well.  My worry is that MorphOS will drift into "Who owns it?" hell just like the original software if the Morph team ever drifts apart (which is always a possibility) and AOS4.1 is already firmly rooted in the same BS that plagues the original OSes.  Bloodline said it best.  AROS is an Amiga environment for whatever hardware you make run on it.  And now with the integrated AmigaForever deal, its pretty durn transparent.

[J-Golden]

Try here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Aros/Platforms/68k_support

Thanks Piru! :cool:

[agami]

My my, aren't these results interesting. It should certainly give pause to any Amiga related business out there.

Business decision making is either tactical or strategic, and businesses with the right kind of people behind them know when to use which. Furthermore, they know how to align the tactical with the strategic and find the right balance.

The Morphos team's tactical move to leverage used PPC G4 hardware is hopefully balanced with a strategic move they have yet to share with us. But the tactical move is sound. A roadmap covering the next 3-5 years would see increased take-up.

To assist in tactical decision making businesses often reach out to the consumer to get a "temperature reading". But it doesn't pay to reach out to the consumer when looking at the strategic decisions. As Henry Ford has been quoted "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘a faster horse’".

Economics can't be ignored, if Ford had built a faster horse with 2HP but 4x the price of a 1HP horse, we'd be quoting somebody else.

If I were considering a foray into the Amiga business landscape, I would conduct this very poll and adjust my tactical and strategic plans accordingly. For me, these results show that the Amiga community is interested in a lot more than just "a faster horse".

[trekiej]

Since Aros is at 50%, what do we do now?
It seems that documenation, application creation, os programming are the high-lights.
Edit
Did we just vote on something?