Does Linux have an Amiga feel?

[Ami_GFX]

In answer to the original question, no, Linux in any flavor or varity I've tried doesn't in any way feel like an Amiga. This is purely subjective. The only OSes that have a feel like an Amiga that I've tried are OS/2 Warp 3, 4 and 4.5. Once again purely subjective but OS/2 used the Rexx scripting language which on the Amiga was ARexx. It also had really good multitasking which extended to DOS and Windows 3.1 applications that weren't designed to multitask.

Amiga OS isn't a direct derivative of UNIX but UNIX multitasking and a few other things had an influence on Amiga OS. UNIX and Linux have some serious multi user security features like file permissions that don't exist in Amiga OS. Classic Amiga OS has no user accounts. There's no logon. No file permissions. There is multitasking and a really good file system once you know how to use it. The GUI is a bit eccentric but very efficient. Compared to Linux, it is far simpler but it does what it was designed for very well.

[commodorejohn]

So, based on what you say above, this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sun-Ultra-Enterprise-2-Workstation-UltraSPARC-II-296MHz-128MB-RAM-/230994413805?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item35c85708ed also looks "pretty responsive", but I still don't know how old it is or what I may need to go with it. I had a quick look at that forum, but I don't know how long it will take to find out what I need to know. Of course, I have got lots of other expenses. My social life is in ruins at the moment, so it would be a good idea for people on here to tell me why I don't really need to buy a Sun or Silicon graphics workstation.

You want to hear why you shouldn't buy one? Because Unix is, more or less, Unix (except for AIX which I gather is like Unix as implemented by space aliens from mind-probes of Unix-hacker abductees, but I've never used it.) Solaris is about like Linux or FreeBSD when you get right down to it (though CDE is the only desktop environment/application suite I've encountered on Unixoids that I thought had been at all designed with a serious or professional eye towards a good user experience - but then, it's also a very very 1994-vintage user experience.)

If you do want to pursue this, though (and that Ultra II is a hell of a deal if it works, and not much of a risk if it doesn't,) you will need, at a minimum, a serial null-modem cable so you can run a terminal emulator for console access on your PC or Amiga or whatever. More ideal would be a Sun keyboard, mouse, and a 3W13-to-VGA adapter plus a 1280x1024 display (Sun's output seems to be pretty compatible with modern displays - I had to do some hunting to get one that supports sync-on-green for my VAX, though!) Those don't tend to be terribly expensive, but of course that all depends on just how tight your finances are. You could certainly use it serial-only until you can afford them. You may also need replacement install media if someone removed the OS; I don't know anything about that, you'd have to talk to the Nekochan guys.

Addendum: you'd probably need replacement install media period if the seller doesn't have the root password for the current install.

[commodorejohn]

Hats off to you commodorejohn, you beat me this time, I will see to it that it doesn't happen again.

Hmmm the old brain is getting senile.

Aw, take heart - my memory's no great shakes either, and I don't even have age as an excuse...

[AmigaBruno]

You want to hear why you shouldn't buy one? Because Unix is, more or less, Unix (except for AIX which I gather is like Unix as implemented by space aliens from mind-probes of Unix-hacker abductees, but I've never used it.) Solaris is about like Linux or FreeBSD when you get right down to it (though CDE is the only desktop environment/application suite I've encountered on Unixoids that I thought had been at all designed with a serious or professional eye towards a good user experience - but then, it's also a very very 1994-vintage user experience.)

If you do want to pursue this, though (and that Ultra II is a hell of a deal if it works, and not much of a risk if it doesn't,) you will need, at a minimum, a serial null-modem cable so you can run a terminal emulator for console access on your PC or Amiga or whatever. More ideal would be a Sun keyboard, mouse, and a 3W13-to-VGA adapter plus a 1280x1024 display (Sun's output seems to be pretty compatible with modern displays - I had to do some hunting to get one that supports sync-on-green for my VAX, though!) Those don't tend to be terribly expensive, but of course that all depends on just how tight your finances are. You could certainly use it serial-only until you can afford them. You may also need replacement install media if someone removed the OS; I don't know anything about that, you'd have to talk to the Nekochan guys.

Addendum: you'd probably need replacement install media period if the seller doesn't have the root password for the current install.

What I really need is a detailed explanation of why anyone would want to use a Sun workstation instead of some other system. I also need to know all the differences between Linux and UNIX. There's also the Silicon Graphics workstations which don't just do graphics, but some graphics I've found are nice raytaced 3D graphics which remind me of Amiga raytracing. I never got around to or never managed to do any raytracing on the Amiga, even with free software on a cover disk. I plan to try again soon. Unfortunately, in the Nekochan forum they mention using some nasty software which put me off doing graphics when I switched to Windoze and Linux. By this I mean Photoshop and GIMP with their nasty, business like, totally user unfriendly interfaces and ways of doing things. Paint Shop Pro and Microsoft Paint are also crap! If I had to use those on a Silicon Graphics workstation, then there wouldn't be any point. Apart from this, I'm totally against using software such as Photoshop which costs more than the price of a new computer. I don't know what the software Maya or Blender is like, though.

[commodorejohn]

There is no real "why" to using an oldschool Unix workstation other than that you find the idea cool. As for software, I really have no idea; you'd have to ask on Nekochan. (But as for Photoshop's price tag, I imagine anything you'd be running on an old SGI would be, erm, "acquired secondhand.")

[psxphill]

except for AIX which I gather is like Unix as implemented by space aliens from mind-probes of Unix-hacker abductees, but I've never used it.

AIX is based on ATA&T's Unix System V R1/R2/R3.
 

Solaris is about like Linux or FreeBSD when you get right down to it

Solaris is based on AT&T's UNIX System V R4
 
They both include source code from BSD as well.
 
People use an old SGI or Sun for the same reason they use old Amiga's.
There is no real justification for it.

[motrucker]

Everything talked about here is yesterday's news. Sad state of affairs.

[slaapliedje]

Kind of funny that the only thing in this whole tread that is 'current' is Linux, AIX, and FreeBSD.

SunOS is now Solaris (owned by Oracle now ) and AIX is pretty much only available on fat IBM mainframes, which oddly are descended from PPC, so I guess they're After-Commodore Amiga-Like in hardware?

Hmmm, AmigaOS 4.x on a Power7+ processor would be... not sure I know if there is a word.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/POWER7

One can dream, right?  

slaapliedje

[desiv]

Everything talked about here is yesterday's news.

Hmmm..   Imagine that...

:laugh1:

desiv

[agami]

... AIX is pretty much only available on fat IBM mainframes, ...e

Negative. AIX is available for iSeries, pSeries, and of course zSeries. So, not just on mainframes.

[AmigaBruno]

There is no real "why" to using an oldschool Unix workstation other than that you find the idea cool. As for software, I really have no idea; you'd have to ask on Nekochan. (But as for Photoshop's price tag, I imagine anything you'd be running on an old SGI would be, erm, "acquired secondhand.")

I only understand that I used to hear about these expensive Sun and Silicon graphics workstations and I wondered why anyone used them and what they did with them, but it was too expensive to find out. Now it's not too expensive to find out, but I don't know how old any of the hardware on eBay is because these systems aren't familiar to me. As for being "oldschool" I've recently seen videos of Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations with their nice, custom GUIs and they don't look old school to me. I don't know what the difference is between this and totally up to date Sun or Silicon Graphics workstations. Here's a video I watched yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ3eKYXk9EI

[polyp2000]

I only understand that I used to hear about these expensive Sun and Silicon graphics workstations and I wondered why anyone used them and what they did with them, but it was too expensive to find out. Now it's not too expensive to find out, but I don't know how old any of the hardware on eBay is because these systems aren't familiar to me. As for being "oldschool" I've recently seen videos of Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations with their nice, custom GUIs and they don't look old school to me. I don't know what the difference is between this and totally up to date Sun or Silicon Graphics workstations. Here's a video I watched yesterday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ3eKYXk9EI

if you have a spare PC floating around or one that you are willing to partition- you could always try OpenSolaris  http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/solaris11/downloads/index.html
and avoid having to purchase the hardware in the first place.

N

[persia]

Or just run Open Solaris in a VM.  The college of engineering where I work used to be a Sun shop.  As Sun went through it's death spiral the slowly abandoned Solais, even the switch to X86 seemed to help the decline.

[nicholas]

Negative. AIX is available for iSeries, pSeries, and of course zSeries. So, not just on mainframes.

All this talk of IBM Big Iron has triggered off latent memories of AS/400 development in the late-90's/early-00's.  Not all of them pleasant either! :lol:

[desiv]

All this talk of IBM Big Iron has triggered off latent memories of AS/400 development in the late-90's/early-00's.  

"Latent" memories... Hmmmm..


OK, they call it the System i now, but it'll always be an AS/400 to me.. ;-)

desiv
(as an aside on the Unixy side, I preferred Apollo Workstations... ;-)

[nicholas]

"Latent" memories... Hmmmm..


OK, they call it the System i now, but it'll always be an AS/400 to me.. ;-)

desiv

Methinks the marketing drone that thought up the System I moniker was on crack!

Synon 2E was something I never touched,  Magic was the competing "post-4GL" I specialised in.

http://devnet.magicsoftware.com/en/library?book=en/uniPaaS/&page=uniPaaS_for_iSeries_Guide.htm