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

[Rodomoc]

Hi Smerf... Very interesting to read a report from someone who has checked out all 3... have to say your conclusion at the end seems to be pretty reasonable for now with regard to OS3.5 & 3.9, although I still think AROS will solve a lot of problems in the future (if it ever gets completed and stable) for things like the NatAmi... .....

I have checked 2 of the 3.

Icaros very recently. I confirm simplicity in getting things downloaded, burned to dvd, and immediately booting up on my Dell Precision M65 laptop. I have not installed onto a hard drive yet so my view is limited to live cd operations. But.. it was free and it was simple to get running. I think it is coming along. And the fact that it will exist on multiple hardware platforms is good. Problem with multiple platform ultimately becomes hardware support. So to a degree, Aros is a bit like Amithlon in finding the perfect hardware. I see this getting better in the future though.

MorphOS 2.0 on an Efika. Again, totally simple to install and get running. For this installation, I did it via their network method, a first for me. If I recall correctly, this is done by starting a boot image from a USB thumb drive. I plugged in a network cable, and got the full OS via network in completely automated fashion. Everything went without a hitch and I was soon greeted with a very polished OS. The only glitch to report was no sound. This was not an OS problem though, it turned out my Efika was the issue. I still am interested in Morph and am merely shopping the ideal Mac hardware for it. As for the tragic little Efika, I plan on using it to run a small Linux and hopefully link up to the Morph system via a VNC connection. Just to fill in software missing pieces for now.

I was a fan of Amithlon, still am I suppose. I was almost always an RTG video person so not having chipset compatibility not a deal breaker for me. I have located my Amithlon CD and am really wanting to put it on a new system as my former is long dead. In reading about kernel upgrades, etc... I see Amithlon still has a following since the last time I was in the game. I have a nice Xeon dual core cpu that runs natively at 3ghz. Perfect I'd say. I believe I have a compatible motherboard according to kernel4 author Mirlanca. I need to get this thing built. I used to be enamored with the preconfigured OS packages. But am no longer. I will hand build/upgrade the 3.9OS manually. As much as I like the new stuff, it is 68K that gets most of my time still.

I do play with UAE / 68K but am becoming disenchanted with it all. This includes setting everything up myself (better) or running AF2011 (worse). I run the A3000 but sparingly because it is getting so old anymore. I too look forward to Natami hardware. So many things become solved in this scenerio and it is new. How could I not want to trade my creaky a3000 in for a nice new natami?

[Thorham]

After reading a little more of this thread, I'd still say that starting over is the best way forward. Who wants to be stuck with all this outdated software? My 68030 can do a lot better than this, and it's a damned shame there's no OS that delivers what we should have

[Heiroglyph]

Not to be blasphemous, but in looking at alternatives, don't forget Haiku (BeOS).

If you look at how AmigaOS was intended to go to a more object oriented design, Haiku starts looking pretty similar and it runs on both x86 and PPC with an ARM port in progress.

Like AOS it has a highly responsive UI, good multimedia capabilities, heavily threaded plus memory protection, AGP, PCI, PCI-e, USB, WiFi in progress, quite a few existing apps...

Many of the things we're trying to shoe-horn into the AOS3-like OS's are already there.

I dare say that had AmigaOS continued development, it would have had little more resemblance to AOS3.1 than BeOS does.

Edit:  I forgot that Translators are pretty much a direct rip off of Datatypes.

[Iggy]

@ Rodomoc

Amithlon has always sounded very interesting. Could you let us know how the newest revision functions?

@ Thorham

I've always felt we could do better, but almost all users are going to want backwards compatibility. I used to manage a company that sold 68K based computers running Microware OS9. The micro kernel approach has always fascinated me (its one of the reasons I'm fond of MorphOS) and position independent re-entrant code can allow for some neat tricks (like processes sharing common modules).
AmigaOS is pretty neat, but a better OS could be built. However, what would the market be for it and how would you attract developers?
MOS and AOS4 are already facing this problem and I fear the market for a product like you're suggesting would be even smaller.

Frankly, I always wanted to see what I could do with a Sharp X68000, OS9, and a 68060 accelerator. Better graphics and sound than an Amiga and a more powerful OS. The trick would be getting a good GUI to run with it. Under OS9, all my company had was a XWindows/Motif like GUI called G-Windows.

Since the current company that owns OS9 (Radisys) is still updating the 68K version I may have to contact them. But I'd want a good GUI and a faster Disk I/O system to go with such a package.

[cha05e90]

Now when I pay $149 for an OS I expect it to function without 6 hours of playing around to get it to work.

Oh dear - I'm sure I would have it running in 60 minutes inkl. potential hardware setup.

[Rodomoc]

@ Rodomoc

Amithlon has always sounded very interesting. Could you let us know how the newest revision functions?

Will do Iggy. I'm quite interested in getting this running again and having it take over for the tasks I perform on the A3000. Which are mainly editing and storage of family photos, and general screwing around. Amiga still excellent alternative for dealing with digital pictures in my opinion. We have so many, it is easier to just dedicate a computer to this task. Why not an Amiga?

[Iggy]

Will do Iggy. I'm quite interested in getting this running again and having it take over for the tasks I perform on the A3000. Which are mainly editing and storage of family photos, and general screwing around. Amiga still excellent alternative for dealing with digital pictures in my opinion. We have so many, it is easier to just dedicate a computer to this task. Why not an Amiga?

Very true. I have one system that is solely dedicated to pics, video and sound file. Doesn't require that much CPU power, just large drives.

[commodorejohn]

AmigaOS is pretty neat, but a better OS could be built. However, what would the market be for it and how would you attract developers?

I don't think those are really the point, at least not in the initial phases of development. Any new OS is going to start off as a hobby project, and remember the golden rules of small software development: "Every good work of software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch" and "Large programs that work start off as small programs that work."

I don't think anything good is going to come out of trying to create a new OS around marketing considerations. Rather, you'd do better to find an OS paradigm that interests you, do your best to do a good implementation of it, and see if what you have interests anybody else. Remember, Linux started off as a college student's hobby project to learn 386 assembler!

[persia]

But, if and this is a mighty big if, you contribute anything to Linux won't you have to share it with the public?

[commodorejohn]

No, the GPL doesn't require you to redistribute your modified version of someone else's source - it just sets the terms under which you're allowed to if you do decide to.

[desiv]

But, if and this is a mighty big if, you contribute anything to Linux won't you have to share it with the public?

Not necessarily...
If you use GPL code in your code, then basically yes..
But if you write a teriffic driver from scratch for say ... a video capture card, you can release it as binary only and you don't have to share the code with anyone.

Now, binary releases are problematic and you won't garner friends in the community, but you can do it.  GPL doesn't mean everything is for everyone..

desiv

[runequester]

But, if and this is a mighty big if, you contribute anything to Linux won't you have to share it with the public?

As mentioned: If you use code from a GPL project, then your resultant software must also be GPL.
However, open source and closed source can co-exist in a system. F.X. My linux system has closed source video card drivers, and games like Quakewars

[desiv]

However, open source and closed source can co-exist in a system. F.X. My linux system has closed source video card drivers, and games like Quakewars

Exactly...  I have several binary Linux games that are close source as well..

er..  
(rm ~/BittorrentDLs/Quakewars_source.tgz  :nervous:  )

Yeah..

:lol:

desiv
(p.s.  No, I don't have Quakewars source...)

[Franko]

You aint gonna believe this but...

I've just found another shiny silver teaspoon inside an old shoe under me bed...

I found it when I was chasing a spider that ran under there after it stole me pizza...

We're happy... are you happy...

[HotRod]

aros 68k is going to be/is binary compatible, any other aros platform - certainly not. (transparent) emulation would have to be used (which is in works as far as i understand) which is exactly how mos and os4 dealt with it.
@franko: so there is no need for uae on aros68k of course. that wouldnt make sense.
@hotrod: whats wrong with os3.1 as base? i dont see that much that os 3.5-3.9 added to that, except some minor functionality that aros provides nevertheless and some ugly icons. besides the looks of os4 are not that much better too, the icons and the default skin especially. and the functionality of its workbench reminds me of the times of 3.x as well. not that it was sooo bad.

You make it sound like not much has happened between 3.1-4.1 which must be a joke or you not knowing what you're talking about. Regarding the icons for AOS 4.1 upd 2 I think they are beautiful.

Either way, AROS needs to get "minor functionality" added and look better. Not that it's all that is needed, it just doesn't feal mature enough yet and behind both aos and mos.

[Iggy]

You make it sound like not much has happened between 3.1-4.1 which must be a joke or you not knowing what you're talking about. Regarding the icons for AOS 4.1 upd 2 I think they are beautiful.

Either way, AROS needs to get "minor functionality" added and look better. Not that it's all that is needed, it just doesn't feal mature enough yet and behind both aos and mos.

I think we could cut that word 'minor' out of the paragraph. There are large gaps in AROS functionality. I like the project and think it has a great future, but as you've pointed out AOS4 and MOS are definitely more complete and polished.