winuae woes....

[Duce]

XP is still a completely viable OS, and as others stated, especially for older HW and in cases where it's simply not worth the $ to invest in W7.  Just be aware support ends on it in 2014 (XP SP3) - SP support on SP1 and SP2 ended in 2006.

Honestly though, even on older machines that are of the XP era, I find Windows 7 to run on said hardware just as well as XP does, but you'll occasionally hit driver availability issues.  I'm having that problem atm trying to find W7/WHS 2011 RAID drivers for a 680i (Asus P5N32 E SLI Plus) based board.  XP drivers are readily available, but Win 7/WHS 2011 ones aren't.

As for AF, I think it delivers a good initial, easy to use experience - many people get back into the Amiga scene via Amiga Forever, but personally I have outgrown the encrypted ROM's and instability issues with it and just headed to standalone UAE or Amithlon.

I would not buy AF again myself, but I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone that just wants an emulated blast from the past in an all in one package.

[Lurch]

WinUAE + Classic WB, which I upgraded with my AmigaOS 3.9 disc. Fantast WHDLoad machine, also replaced the explorer shell with WinUAE and hid the PC box under the desk, non the wiser ;-)

Just about to flash the BIOS to hide the BIOS logo etc so should be good.

Having said that nothing beats sitting in front of my A500+ :-)

[huronking]

You have to put into perspective that many large companies have a "corporate desktop" with a custom environment built around specific applications and tools- not to mention the adaptations of their network itself.

Microsoft cant even make their web browsers backward compatible and stable (or forward compatible most of the time) and large organizations spend enough just keeping the platform running on a daily basis to worry about migrating to another pointless round of years solving needless hurdles and bugs.

I work for a large company that still uses XP on modern hardware, and before this I worked for another very large company that still used OS/2, Netware, and AS/400's. (And TokenRing, while I'm at it)...

It's not about being trapped in antiquity- its about having a business to run first.

[Foul]

Linux + FS-UAE ... working perfect here

http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae

[Ral-Clan]

The way I look at it - I'm far more productive on my "old" Windows XP system (and my "ancient" AmigaOS system) than most people are who keep up to date with the latest OSes.

I'm editing video, doing 3d and 2d graphics, desktop publishing, animation, composing and recording music, using a graphics tablet, trans-coding video from DV to MP4, DIVX, MPEG2, CAD work, etc. etc. etc. etc. on my old machines.

Most people I know who have the latest and greatest Windows 7 computers are just checking e-mail, facebook, listening to MP3s and watching the occasional downloaded movie.  They will probably only use a fraction of the computing power they have on their desk/laps.  On the other hand I may have less CPU cycles available, but I use it to its full potential.

Heck, I could probably get more done with a well set up and tweaked Windows 98 machine than most people do with their new computers.

I don't play many games - and I don't need to play the latest cutting edge games that require powerful hardware or the latest version of Windows.  If and when I do get the inclination to play - I have THOUSANDS of really great games made during the last 30 years (C64, Amiga and slightly older PC games) to fill up my time.  It would take years to play them all. Heck, I haven't even finished all the amazing Infocom text adventures or the original Ultima series yet!

[Kooler]

Amiga Forever still has a lot wrong with it, like the obfuscated adf images and encrypted ROM files.
It's just another example of how piracy can get you a more usable product than paying can.
Cloanto should know better.

"know better", like becoming pirates themselves?
 
The ROM files are not encrypted, they are just encoded. All Amiga emulators support that ROM encoding, because it was the way to be legal and accepted back in 1997. What do you have against that?
 
And what are "obfuscated adf images" please?

[Kooler]

WinUAE is, AF specific bits written by Cloanto are not.

What's wrong with those parts?
 

(if you own even a yellowed dead A500 you can legally download KS 1.3/2.04 and use the FREE WinUAE emulator they are charging you for)

This is an urban legend. You have to obey the law (and the license, if one came with the Amiga systems). By default, copyright laws do not allow copies unless authorized. Where does it say that you can copy the copyrighted software from one place and use it somewhere else? Even laws written to allow for backup copies do not cover such a case.

[Kooler]

This system is out in my garage. No internet...
 
I managed to get it fixed using an older copy of winuae. Apparently somewhere along the upgrade path they require sp3 or newer direct x than that machine had...
 
I hate windows.... :rant:

"No internet" is a good strategy to avoid malware. You wouldn't even need updates (if you also avoided installing new software). The problem in this case is that Microsoft dropped support for older versions of XP (without the service packs) in Visual Studio, which is the compiler used to build WinUAE and Amiga Forever. That's why new software requires SP2 or SP3. It's not the developers' choice, it is Microsoft imposing it.

[mikeymike]

"No internet" is a good strategy to avoid malware. You wouldn't even need updates (if you also avoided installing new software). The problem in this case is that Microsoft dropped support for older versions of XP (without the service packs) in Visual Studio, which is the compiler used to build WinUAE and Amiga Forever. That's why new software requires SP2 or SP3. It's not the developers' choice, it is Microsoft imposing it.

XP is now ~ten years old.  There have been three major updates (service packs for it) over the years, in order to make it easier for the end user to bring the system up to a definite level of security, reliability and performance (ie. they can be sure that all previously-released updates before that service pack have been integrated).  If I had to venture a guess, I would say probably 90% of Windows XP's system files have been modified since RTM probably 5 or 6 times, and some many more times than that.  Again, security updates are for the benefit of the end user.

When someone releases a piece of software, they need a definite testing platform for it, partly for their own sanity and partly for the benefit of the end user.  Can you imagine what it would be like if Windows was still like Windows 95, where to get effective/ideal dial-up Internet, you had to apply 6 or 7 patches in a particular order in order for it to work?

Anyone familiar with software development would also know that regressions sometimes occur when modifying a piece of software for whatever reason.  Imagine having to support all of those regressions as well.

Microsoft saying that a certain service pack level for XP isn't supported any more is as much for their own sanity as it is for third party developers and end users.  If they were to support XP at all service pack levels their test routines would expand by an order of magnitude, as would the test routines of all third party developers, because the end user would expect that, and users on forums would be saying "Microsoft support this, so developer x is only being awkward because they feel like it!".

"It should have been perfect to begin with, dammit!"

[Ral-Clan]

XP is now ~ten years old.  If I had to venture a guess, I would say probably 90% of Windows XP's system files have been modified since RTM probably 5 or 6 times, and some many more times than that.  Again, security updates are for the benefit of the end user.

I wonder if there will be a way, when support for XP is over in 2013, to buy a "final" version of XP - with all the updates ever released incorporated into it.

That way if someone did a fresh in stall of Windows XP in the year 2016, for instance, they don't have to download all the updates released up to 2013 (assuming the Microsoft servers even still host the XP updates after 2013).

[Ami_GFX]

There will probably be some unofficial support from sources other than Microsoft. That is happening with Windows 98.

I did point out in an earlier post that I'm getting some updates still for Xp SP2 even though MS has officially ended support. They might still host the archived updates for Xp after the support period ends. Probably in one big download. That is the status of Windows 2000, as I remember.

[paul1981]

I wonder if there will be a way, when support for XP is over in 2013, to buy a "final" version of XP - with all the updates ever released incorporated into it.

That way if someone did a fresh in stall of Windows XP in the year 2016, for instance, they don't have to download all the updates released up to 2013 (assuming the Microsoft servers even still host the XP updates after 2013).

I still use Windows98 on an old laptop for work. You can actually get all of the updates ever produced for 98 all in one download here:
http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

More projects here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/91-windows-9x-member-projects/
KernalEX lets you run WinXP software on 98...

Another is Revolutions Pack:
http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/131040-revolutions-pack-9/
This makes Windows98 look like Windows Vista or XP or 7.

I can only guess that in 5 years time there will be the same passion surrounding XP as what people still show in 98 today!

[fishy_fiz]

@paul1981

That's quite cool. Not that I use either Win9x or Winuae much, but do you happen to know if Winuae will run on a Win9x system with all the above updates? It (Win9x) is much easier to strip back to the nth degree to use as a host for an emulated system. Could be pretty nice for those people that like to have dedicated WinUAE boxes.
ReactOS is a decent option, but not yet as fast as it could be.

[paul1981]

@paul1981

That's quite cool. Not that I use either Win9x or Winuae much, but do you happen to know if Winuae will run on a Win9x system with all the above updates? It (Win9x) is much easier to strip back to the nth degree to use as a host for an emulated system. Could be pretty nice for those people that like to have dedicated WinUAE boxes.
ReactOS is a decent option, but not yet as fast as it could be.

I'm afraid I haven't installed KernalEx, so I can't say yes or no whether the latest WinUAE will work or not, but I do have all other updates installed.
I actually use WinUAE 1.4.6 (2008.02.02) which was the last version available that supports Windows 98 (file name WinUAE1460.zip).

[outlawal2]

"winuae woes.... And why amiga forever sucks... "

Quite possibly the most asinine statement ever uttered by man...
So Amig Forever sucks because you can't get it to work on your PC, running outdated versions of XP, with no way to update it and obtain proper drivers or patching ...


You sir.. Are an idiot...    And I know all about idiots as I am a PC tech and have to work with people just as ridiculous as you on a daily basis...

GOOD FRIGGIN GOD

[runequester]

Linux + FS-UAE ... working perfect here

http://fengestad.no/wp/fs-uae

huh, I wasn't familiar with that. I'll have to give it a shot, just in case the 1200 goes tits up.

Thanks for posting