AmigaOS 4XX - MorphOS etc

[techlord]

I was born around '75, and grew up in the microComputer scene...However, I never had the money for an AMIGA, but always drooled over them when I was growing up..so suffice to say, I'm new to the CURRENT amiga scene, but have been reading...so go easy on me.  I have investigated several options:

1.  Buying a Mac Mini G4 1.42Ghz with a 1 GB ram, and putting morph OS on it

2.  Buying a SAM440EX based board and building my own, and installing AmigaOS 4.1 (seems nice, but an expensive endever)  I thought I would install Morph OS first...but not sure if its the experiance I'm looking for.

One last point of note, I recently installed WinUAE, and did what I consider to be a RAW install of OS 3.9.  I'm doing that to bring myself up to speed on the OS.  So my questions are:

A.  Which route above do you think is the better one for the true amiga experiance (I know I'm going to have people telling me to buy an Amiga 1200, put an accelertor card in it, and go from there, but I', not sure I have the money for that.)  I loved the Dan Wood videos on youtube He has them all

B.  Don't lynch me on this one, if its been asked over and over again, I googled it, and couldn;t find the answer.  Can I run AmigaOS 4.0 or 4.1 CLASSIC on WinUAE?  I know I can run OS3.9, so I was wondering what the stretch was...

Thanks in adavance for helping a OLD newcomer out.

[Kronos]

Well the question is what you really want to do with your "new" "Amiga" ?

If your into games and apps from yesteryears (Win)UAE is your way to go.

If you want to experience a "modern Amiga" you should imform yourself a bit more into detail.

Testing OS4 is next to impossible without handing out $$$, you might want to visit a local user meeting (is such thing exist).

Testing MorphOS can be done quiet easily and cheap:

Buy a supported Mac:
- eMacs and PowerMacs can be had for 50Euro or less
- MacMinis are bit more expensive, if you do go that route searching for the "silent upgrade" model with 1.5GHz and 64MB VRAM is strongly advised.

MorphOS runs unregistered on these for 30 minutes after each boot before it will slow down.

If you like it you can invest 111Euro into a licence.
If you don't like it you can resell that Mac through the same channels you got it and get back more or less what you paid yourself.


Edith:

Neither MorphOS nor OS4 offer "true Amiga" feeling, both reimplement the API on PPC-CPUs and come with an emulator to run 68k-SW.

SW that bypasses the systems or relies on specific features of the orginal chipsets (aka real Amigas) won't run unless you put them inside an UAE-setup. Pretty much all games fall into this category.

(Win)UAE only emulates an 68k, PPC OSes like OS4.x or MorphOS won't run here.

[Duce]

The Morph option is a lot cheaper.  The MorphOS demo is free, and the hardware it will run on can be had for very little investment, or in some cases - entirely free.

The OS4 deal is offputtingly expensive to get into, but I enjoy my SAM 440.  It's far from what I would consider a replacement for legacy Amiga HW, though - esp. if you are into games.  You're mostly stuck doing emulation on OS4 for older programs, games - etc.

You cannot run OS4 on UAE that I know of.

[runequester]

I was born around '75, and grew up in the microComputer scene...However, I never had the money for an AMIGA, but always drooled over them when I was growing up..so suffice to say, I'm new to the CURRENT amiga scene, but have been reading...so go easy on me.  I have investigated several options:

1.  Buying a Mac Mini G4 1.42Ghz with a 1 GB ram, and putting morph OS on it

2.  Buying a SAM440EX based board and building my own, and installing AmigaOS 4.1 (seems nice, but an expensive endever)  I thought I would install Morph OS first...but not sure if its the experiance I'm looking for.

One last point of note, I recently installed WinUAE, and did what I consider to be a RAW install of OS 3.9.  I'm doing that to bring myself up to speed on the OS.  So my questions are:

A.  Which route above do you think is the better one for the true amiga experiance (I know I'm going to have people telling me to buy an Amiga 1200, put an accelertor card in it, and go from there, but I', not sure I have the money for that.)  I loved the Dan Wood videos on youtube He has them all

B.  Don't lynch me on this one, if its been asked over and over again, I googled it, and couldn;t find the answer.  Can I run AmigaOS 4.0 or 4.1 CLASSIC on WinUAE?  I know I can run OS3.9, so I was wondering what the stretch was...

Thanks in adavance for helping a OLD newcomer out.

As mentioned, it depends a lot on what you want to do with the system.

OS4 and up require powerPC, either one of the insanely expensive boards for a classic amiga, or a machine built for it (the amiga one SAM stuff)

[jorkany]

One last point of note, I recently installed WinUAE, and did what I consider to be a RAW install of OS 3.9.  I'm doing that to bring myself up to speed on the OS.  So my questions are:

A.  Which route above do you think is the better one for the true amiga experiance (I know I'm going to have people telling me to buy an Amiga 1200, put an accelertor card in it, and go from there, but I', not sure I have the money for that.)  I loved the Dan Wood videos on youtube He has them all

Why get an accelerator card? Unless you have some particular software in mind to use it with, there's absolutely no reason to get one. Visit your local thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales, you can pick up an A500 on the cheap and who knows what else you may find.

B.  Don't lynch me on this one, if its been asked over and over again, I googled it, and couldn;t find the answer.  Can I run AmigaOS 4.0 or 4.1 CLASSIC on WinUAE?  I know I can run OS3.9, so I was wondering what the stretch was...

It's the other way around, you have to run UAE on OS4 to run much Amiga software. If you're into Linux ports though OS4 is a great choice if you can't run Linux for whatever reason.

[takemehomegrandma]

@techlord

You've got to ask yourself the question what you really are looking for, what are you intested in?

Is it to play old games and use old apps and the old OS, etc? Then you really want maximum compatibility, which means UAE or real Amigas (or maybe Minimig?).

But if your interest is towards having a 2011 level Amiga experience (modern desktop, browsing, media files, etc) then there is really no real alternative than MorphOS IMHO.

[spirantho]

Basically, both MorphOS and AmigaOS 4 are "next-gen" Amiga-like experiences, but when it comes down to it it's entirely subjective.  Don't be out off by people yelling propaganda about either system, both have their fans and their haters. Both have strengths and weaknesses, and both allow Classic Amiga programs which don't use the hardware directly to run, you don't need UAE on either. Some say MorphOS is slightly more compatible with classic programs but I have few troubles on my os4 machines either.

Personally, I have both and I use OS4 a lot more, because I find it more comfortable, but you may find the opposite.

[Digiman]

Unless you want to play PowerPC type high speed Amiga games like Wipeout, Quake etc don't bother.

With MorphOS you have a mediocre OS that has nothing to do with real Amigas running on a Mac

With OS 4 you have a semi-official update to OS 3.x running on expensive underwhelming white elephant of a computer.

Both need UAE emulator to enjoy anything worth doing and none of them can play real Amiga games from disks. So save you cash, tweak UAE and forget all the fake Amiga stuff. No Paula chip = not Amiga....just another emulator.

For watching movie files, browsing the net, streaming content, instant messaging.....just get a Linux/OSX/Windows machine and don't kid yourself into blowing cash on fake Amigas. That's what sane Amiga lovers do

[Iggy]

Naturally, I'm biased, but I don't think I can agree with any of this.
Frankly, I have PCs. And I run Windows, OSX, and Ubuntu.
But I really like MorphOS and believe OS4 is progressing reasonably well.
Both run Amiga PPC software far better then a PPC equipped Amiga and either will run newer games and software ported to these platforms.
Further, if you've developed software under Amiga OS3.X, adapting to a MorphOS or AOS environment is relatively straight forward.

[spihunter]

I think Digiman is just attempting to out troll Jorkany & Talemehomegrandma. It takes some effort to pull that off and still appear serious.

Unless you want to play PowerPC type high speed Amiga games like Wipeout, Quake etc don't bother.

With MorphOS you have a mediocre OS that has nothing to do with real Amigas running on a Mac

With OS 4 you have a semi-official update to OS 3.x running on expensive underwhelming white elephant of a computer.

Both need UAE emulator to enjoy anything worth doing and none of them can play real Amiga games from disks. So save you cash, tweak UAE and forget all the fake Amiga stuff. No Paula chip = not Amiga....just another emulator.

For watching movie files, browsing the net, streaming content, instant messaging.....just get a Linux/OSX/Windows machine and don't kid yourself into blowing cash on fake Amigas. That's what sane Amiga lovers do

[techlord]

Thanks for all of your input.  I'm currently installing OS 3.9 on WinUAE, and I'll make my decision later now ha ha ha...I think I may still buy a cheap Mini Mac G4, and then see how I like morphOS.

[Iggy]

Thanks for all of your input. I'm currently installing OS 3.9 on WinUAE, and I'll make my decision later now ha ha ha...I think I may still buy a cheap Mini Mac G4, and then see how I like morphOS.

That's kind of how I got hooked.
I bought a Quicksilver Powermac on Ebay for $19.95 (w/o hard drive, memory or video card).
All I had to do was reseat the CPU card, add memory, and a hard drive (which I already had) and install a cheap video card.
My initial MorphOS investment was under $50.
 
Then I started using it. Its quite cool.

[Karlos]

Both have strengths and weaknesses, and both allow Classic Amiga programs which don't use the hardware directly to run, you don't need UAE on either..

A small point to note is that if you happen to run OS4 on classic hardware then plenty (not all, but that would be a stretch) of 68K apps which do require the native hardware continue to work.

[Iggy]

A small point to note is that if you happen to run OS4 on classic hardware then plenty (not all, but that would be a stretch) of 68K apps which do require the native hardware continue to work.

Very good point, Karlos.
From what I've seen, a PPC equipped Amiga running OS4 is quite compatible with older apps (and it runs them much quicker).

[amigadave]

I was born around '75, and grew up in the microComputer scene...However, I never had the money for an AMIGA, but always drooled over them when I was growing up..so suffice to say, I'm new to the CURRENT amiga scene, but have been reading...so go easy on me.  I have investigated several options:

I graduated from High School the year before you were born, so I was a lot older than you when the Amiga first appeared, but I did not buy one until late 1986, or early 1987, can't remember exactly when.

1.  Buying a Mac Mini G4 1.42Ghz with a 1 GB ram, and putting morph OS on it

G4 Mac Mini's are usually more expensive than buying a G4 eMac that has about the same performance and comes with a monitor, but they are ungodly heavy and can cost more to ship them then the price to purchase them.  But if you can find one locally for free, or for very little money, they are a good choice to run MorphOS on.  Specially the 1.42GHz model, which I think comes with 64mb of VRAM (might be wrong on that spec though).  Only the 1.5GHz G4 Mac Mini comes with 64mb of VRAM, the rest have only 32mb VRAM, which might cause some problems if you are using enhanced display modes and large high resolution monitors.  Another cheap choice of G4 Mac hardware is the slower G4 PowerMacs, like the 500MHz to 867MHz, or even 1.0GHz models.  You might need to replace the video card with a Radeon 9000Pro which are easy to find for the Mac, or one of the other supported video cards, as the original video cards in most of the early G4 PowerMacs are not supported.  I got my dual 1.25GHz G4 MDD PowerMac for less than $50 and no shipping or tax and I just saw a dual 1.0GHz G4 MDD PowerMac get sold on eBay today for 0.99 cents plus shipping, but the shipping was $75.  It appears that most supported G4 eMacs and PowerMacs on eBay are selling for around $100 when you include the shipping, but if you keep your eyes open, and look around your local area at thrift shops, recycled computer stores, or garage & yard sales, you can probably find a G4 PowerMac like I did for less than $50.

2.  Buying a SAM440EX based board and building my own, and installing AmigaOS 4.1 (seems nice, but an expensive endever)  I thought I would install Morph OS first...but not sure if its the experiance I'm looking for.

Some people like OS4 best and others like MorphOS2.7 best, it is all very subjective.  The nice thing about MorphOS is that you can usually find the hardware to run it very cheap, or maybe even free, or you can possibly borrow someone's compatible G4 Mac system and you can download and install MorphOS2.7, and run it for free 30 minutes at a time between re-boots to see if you like it.  If it does not fit your needs, or you don't like it for any reason, you can usually sell the hardware for the same amount you paid for it, or more if you were careful when you purchased, so you are not out any money, or very little.  OS4 on the other hand must be purchased, there is no free version to try out, so I suggest that you find someone that has it running on the same hardware that you are thinking of buying to run it on, and test it out at their house to see if you like it.  Most OS4 users would be happy to invite you over to show you OS4 running and let you play with it for as long as you like to see if it is what you want.  Just ask around here and other sites, until you find an OS4 user that lives close to you, or close to some place that you have always wanted to visit.  That way you won't be disappointed after you buy what ever system you decide to get, because you will already know what you are getting in advance.

One last point of note, I recently installed WinUAE, and did what I consider to be a RAW install of OS 3.9.  I'm doing that to bring myself up to speed on the OS.  So my questions are:

A.  Which route above do you think is the better one for the true amiga experiance (I know I'm going to have people telling me to buy an Amiga 1200, put an accelertor card in it, and go from there, but I', not sure I have the money for that.)  I loved the Dan Wood videos on youtube He has them all

It sound like you want a Next Gen Amiga system, and not just a Classic Amiga experience.  There is no one answer for which one is more of a "True Amiga experience", as both sides will tell you that they think their choice is more like what the true experience would be if Commodore was still in business today.  Those arguments can get very heated in a short period of time and are pointless.  Only you can decide what is a "True Amiga Experience" for yourself.

B.  Don't lynch me on this one, if its been asked over and over again, I googled it, and couldn;t find the answer.  Can I run AmigaOS 4.0 or 4.1 CLASSIC on WinUAE?  I know I can run OS3.9, so I was wondering what the stretch was...

Thanks in adavance for helping a OLD newcomer out.

This question has been answered already by a couple of people.  It is NO.

Welcome back to Amigaland and personally I hope you will choose both (or all three, as you have not mentioned AROS, which is another valid choice of Next Generation Amiga systems) and enjoy all there is to experience in the Amiga community.

(warning:  DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS!)