Hyperion and Amiga Inc settle

May the Amiga curse be finally over

http://www.hyperion-entertainment.co...id=1&Itemid=65

Ahh poor Amiga, the memories, doubt this will bring a whole lotta good the the Amiga name.

but ... this caught my eye :

"low RAM requirements of the OS would make it perfect for running on Sony's PlayStation 3" arstechnica.com

Now that would be neat

I think the amiga OS would be a great mobile OS and could go head to head with winmo 6.5 and android. Unfortunately its too late to the party.

I'd say it's good for more than a mobile device, it's more than capable of being a full desktop OS. Given that Amiga hardware was so far ahead of its time, even Amiga OS 3.1 (the last version from Commodore) is still totally usable with the addition of some 3rd party software. Funny that you mention phones, though, because OS 3.9 and older were all 68k based, meaning many mobile phones can run it semi-natively.

Pretty impressive that an Amiga OS 3.1, an OS from 1994, can handle hardware accelerated 3D, hardware accelerated stereo sound, has a file system that can handle hard disks in excess of 1TB, supports up to 1.5GB of RAM, had a massive number of hardware expansion options, the list goes on. These are all features that Windows wouldn't catch up with until years later.

Quick screenshot of what Amiga OS 3.1 can do with a little sprucing up (click for full size). I still need to install Directory Opus on here, that would give me a much better file manager...


To put that in perspective, the version of Windows available at the time was Windows 3.11. I would hardly consider it to still be a usable desktop OS. It doesn't even support running 32bit applications out of the box, and the support that was added later was fairly dismal. Future hardware support is basically nonexistent... I was going to drop in a screenshot of Windows 3.11 for comparison, but I couldn't even get it to run a resolution higher than 1024x768, which is just plain sad.

If it weren't for Amiga's being so expensive, and Commodore going bankrupt around the same time, it's very likely we would be seeing Commodore vs Apple instead of Microsoft vs Apple today.


Now, as for the current situation with Hyperion and Amiga OS 4, they've sort of painted themselves into a corner. When they made OS4 they built it for custom-made PowerPC motherboards rather than generic x86 hardware; easy to develop for (one hardware set), hard to get mass adoption. There's also the option of running it on classic 68k based Amiga hardware (if you have a PowerPC accelerator card installed), but that old hardware is arguably harder to find than the custom PowerPC AmigaOne motherboards. Amiga OS is going to struggle as a desktop operating system until they open it up and allow it to run on other PowerPC platforms (such as older macs) or port it over to x86 so it can run on standard PC hardware.

The Amiga was so great, it made me break my cardinal rule about not buying proprietary hardware. I eventually moved on to an IBM compatible with a Pentium 90 and Windows 95. However, there wasn't a day that went by where I wasn't missing my Amiga 2000 and 1200HD... almost as if it possessed its own heart and soul.

A special piece of hardware that was WAY ahead of its time.

Cloanto's Amiga Forever stuff is pretty awesome. I loved my old Amiga 500 and wish we hadn't sold it at a garage sale for $20.

I agree Amiga OS3.1 is a great OS even by today standards. Unfortunately later versions really didn't add much, and can't compete with other OS's

Originally Posted by Unknown-One

I'd say it's good for more than a mobile device, it's more than capable of being a full desktop OS. Given that Amiga hardware was so far ahead of its time, even Amiga OS 3.1 (the last version from Commodore) is still totally usable with the addition of some 3rd party software. Funny that you mention phones, though, because OS 3.9 and older were all 68k based, meaning many mobile phones can run it semi-natively.

Pretty impressive that an Amiga OS 3.1, an OS from 1994, can handle hardware accelerated 3D, hardware accelerated stereo sound, has a file system that can handle hard disks in excess of 1TB, supports up to 1.5GB of RAM, had a massive number of hardware expansion options, the list goes on. These are all features that Windows wouldn't catch up with until years later.

Quick screenshot of what Amiga OS 3.1 can do with a little sprucing up (click for full size). I still need to install Directory Opus on here, that would give me a much better file manager...


To put that in perspective, the version of Windows available at the time was Windows 3.11. I would hardly consider it to still be a usable desktop OS. It doesn't even support running 32bit applications out of the box, and the support that was added later was fairly dismal. Future hardware support is basically nonexistent... I was going to drop in a screenshot of Windows 3.11 for comparison, but I couldn't even get it to run a resolution higher than 1024x768, which is just plain sad.

If it weren't for Amiga's being so expensive, and Commodore going bankrupt around the same time, it's very likely we would be seeing Commodore vs Apple instead of Microsoft vs Apple today.


Now, as for the current situation with Hyperion and Amiga OS 4, they've sort of painted themselves into a corner. When they made OS4 they built it for custom-made PowerPC motherboards rather than generic x86 hardware; easy to develop for (one hardware set), hard to get mass adoption. There's also the option of running it on classic 68k based Amiga hardware (if you have a PowerPC accelerator card installed), but that old hardware is arguably harder to find than the custom PowerPC AmigaOne motherboards. Amiga OS is going to struggle as a desktop operating system until they open it up and allow it to run on other PowerPC platforms (such as older macs) or port it over to x86 so it can run on standard PC hardware.

Looks like the settlement is bearing fruit. They're releasing an entirely new Amiga computer, the Amiga One X1000

http://www.osnews.com/story/22693/Ne...r_Dualcore_PPC

It has a zorro slot, wonder if you could slap an old Toaster in there.

Originally Posted by Unknown-One

Looks like the settlement is bearing fruit. They're releasing an entirely new Amiga computer, the Amiga One X1000

http://www.osnews.com/story/22693/Ne...r_Dualcore_PPC

The persistance of the Amiga supporters is commendable, but as much as I love the Amiga I thinks its too little too late.

No one uses power pc anymore, who needs a desktop which can't run any popular applications.
Full ATX? Who want's a full size desktop when nettops are becoming increasingly popular?
DDR2? you migh as well use pc133
A 400 mips coprocessor? A Core i7 alone can do 75,000+ MIPS, I won't post 5970 or fermi to save the embarassment

I undestand why they won't switch to x86 (actually, I don't), but they could switch to arm, there is a potential market for tablets, netbooks and nettops. Just imagine a cortex or better yet tegra based Amiga tablet with an Amiga OS that can do everything the ipad can't and its being doing it for almost 25 years.

Once again the amiga takes a wrong turn, it seems the commodore curse is not over.

My Amiga 500 back in the day was bad ass. I will never forget it!

Originally Posted by Stoly

No one uses power pc anymore, who needs a desktop which can't run any popular applications.
Full ATX? Who want's a full size desktop when nettops are becoming increasingly popular?
DDR2? you migh as well use pc133
A 400 mips coprocessor? A Core i7 alone can do 75,000+ MIPS, I won't post 5970 or fermi to save the embarassment

Ok, now you're exaggerating a bit

The architecture hardly matters in this case, because the OS needs all new software compiled for it anyway. All legacy apps are already being dealt with through Motorola 68k emulation.
Full ATX is just fine, it also preserves the Amiga's namesake of being hugely upgradable.
Nothing wrong with DDR2 either, it has enough bandwidth for their chosen CPU, and the latencies are lower than DDR3.
That 400 mips coprocessor is just the onboard one. You can install cards that daisy-chain bunches of them together to harness huge amounts of fully programmable computing power.

Originally Posted by Stoly

I undestand why they won't switch to x86 (actually, I don't)

Because a lot of classic Amiga applications rely on PowerPC accelerator boards. The architecture is more familiar to the OS, its developers, and its applications. Not only that, but like Apple, it gives them full control over the OS, drivers, and hardware. They don't have to worry about supporting the billion x86 motherboards in existence, and can instead focus on making their few hardware sets function optimally.

It all makes sense, especially if they aim to get back into the niche markets that Amiga computers used to occupy. We'll just have to wait and see how it pans out...

Originally Posted by Unknown-One

Ok, now you're exaggerating a bit

The architecture hardly matters in this case, because the OS needs all new software compiled for it anyway. All legacy apps are already being dealt with through Motorola 68k emulation.
Full ATX is just fine, it also preserves the Amiga's namesake of being hugely upgradable.
Nothing wrong with DDR2 either, it has enough bandwidth for their chosen CPU, and the latencies are lower than DDR3.

That 400 mips coprocessor is just the onboard one. You can install cards that daisy-chain bunches of them together to harness huge amounts of fully programmable computing power.


Because a lot of classic Amiga applications rely on PowerPC accelerator boards. The architecture is more familiar to the OS, its developers, and its applications. Not only that, but like Apple, it gives them full control over the OS, drivers, and hardware. They don't have to worry about supporting the billion x86 motherboards in existence, and can instead focus on making their few hardware sets function optimally.

It all makes sense, especially if they aim to get back into the niche markets that Amiga computers used to occupy. We'll just have to wait and see how it pans out...

I'm I?
I'll give you DDR2, though its on its way out.

I have a hard time believing people will write applications for it when they are better off doing iphone/ipad or google apps. The platform is just not attractive, what's in it that you can't get anywhere else?

Yey for the ATX case, it assures full upgradeability to... what? wait there's nothing to upgrade to, except for Xena. It supports PCIe 2.0 so there's a chance we may find something to put in there.

And speaking of Xena, that's the one with 400 mips, so it means that even if you cram 150 of them, it still won't match a core i7 much less mid/highend GPUs.

Apple made the switch to x86, so Amiga could do that too. But my gripe is not x86, but keeping powerpc, they could have switched to arm or cortex and aim for the nettop market.

And speaking of markets, what niches is the Amiga x1000 targeting that it had before?

Content creation. Nope already taken
3d animation and modelling. Not even with 1,000 Xena chips
Video production. Well maybe, why not?
Games. Really?
Hobbyists. That one I'll give, but not a real money maker.

I am amazed that anyone thought it was worth fighting in court over something so unlikely to have any financial payback.

My A1000 (which I still have) is the most revolutionary computer I every purchased, it was years ahead of the market, but that was 25 years ago. It is just an interesting historical footnote today.

Originally Posted by JD03Cobra

My Amiga 500 back in the day was bad ass. I will never forget it!

hail to the almighty 500! i literally had 1000+ games for that. SO MANY FLOPPIES

Originally Posted by Snowdog

My A1000 (which I still have) is the most revolutionary computer I every purchased, it was years ahead of the market, but that was 25 years ago. It is just an interesting historical footnote today.

I have to agree there. I have a (highly upgraded) A2000 that's still in working order, and fairly functional. Upgraded CPU board, PowerPC Accelerator board, video card, Ethernet card, bigger hard disk, CD-ROM drive.

It's very snappy running Amiga OS 3.9 or Linux; can browse the web without a problem, and even run real time 3D games (tried Quake II, though it can probably handle more than that). Tasks like word processing are also, obviously, simple enough for it.

Not bad for a machine from 1989.

I'd be tempted to pick one up...I used to love the old Amiga's, and had everything from an A1000 up to a couple A3000's before I moved on to the x86 world.

Originally Posted by Unknown-One

I was going to drop in a screenshot of Windows 3.11 for comparison, but I couldn't even get it to run a resolution higher than 1024x768, which is just plain sad.

It can go higher with drivers. Try the S3 drivers. I think there are others if those won't work for you, but they generally don't seem to care if it is actually a S3 card :P


EDIT: Also be fair to the poor old, ugly Windows 3.1! It came out in what? 92? I think Amiga OS looked more like this then:

:P

Originally Posted by MattyC

Also, be fair to the poor old, ugly Windows 3.1! It came out in what? 92? I think Amiga OS looked more like this then:

http://www.guidebookgallery.org/pics...amigaos204.png :P

True, my screenshot is of Amiga OS 3.1 with a bunch of 2010 additions.

To keep it fair, if I had posted a Windows 3.11 screenshot, I would have also updated Windows 3.11 as best I could. I gotta say though, I don't think it's possible to get it up to the same level of looks / functionality / usability as Amiga OS 3.1.

Amiga does it better.

I still have my 1200 and my 1200 tower (with a 68030 50 mgz cpu) and several 1942 monitors I do have Miami and pcmcia network cards they work in the 1200s.