What software does the Amiga NEED?

[Pat the Cat]

Originally Posted by nogginthenog

I'd buy this.

Well, there might be lag issues. A cut down embedded version would make way better controllers than Arduino - potentially RTOS (Real Time Operating System), which is just what you want if building fast 3D printers and other kinds of robots.

AmigaOS 4 "neat" might be a bit chuggy on a Pi for such purposes. On the other hand, it might just do very nicely with no modification.

I have notified Hyperion of the idea on this thread;-

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=71844

[Romanujan]

@emufan - AFR is yet another total rework of requesters; in fact, the AFR file requesters are so complicated I have problems figuring out how to use them. I really don't want to completely rework them, I just want to get rid of a small nuisance.

@daxb - Because there is no big problem - the big ones ("we need LibreOffice! we need a Chromium port! we need a GTA V class exclusive game!") are in reality unsolvable, so I don't want to waste time on them Patching the OS might be an option - but modifying the reqtools (to use some black/white lists stored in ENVARC) would probably be easier (at least for someone who never programmed the Amiga), with less potential to cause compatibility problems.

But again - I have much more serious problems to solve: find out what causes crashes to all the disk-image devices I try to use, setup this Multiuser system at last, understand why my PFS3 compilation complains during OS4 booting (while apparently working correctly...), understand why the handler crashes immediately if I try to compile it with -m68020 (or higher), complete some boring configuration of several tools, etc. Lots and lots of completely useless work with alien retro OS

[nogginthenog]

Originally Posted by Pat the Cat

AmigaOS 4 "neat" might be a bit chuggy on a Pi for such purposes. On the other hand, it might just do very nicely with no modification.

A Raspberry PI 3 @ 1.2 GHZ quad-core ARM is way faster than a CS PPC (what are they 233Mhz?).

[Pat the Cat]

Not convinced AmigaOS 4+ uses multiple core. At least, not yet.

If it did, indeed, would be stonkingly fast Amiga. Tight code, MEAN hardware. Nice combo.

Would kick WinUAE into touch. But, would cost cash. For the OS, Which is fair enough.

Even a single core running though is plenty fast enough for robotic control apps. Big growth area, they need 32 bit controllers to pulse stepper motors fast enough and precise enough to accelerate accurately.

Print heads maneuvering at 256G are theoretically possible, but would probably disintegrate within 2 seconds. Current limit is about 4-16G, and 99% of 3D printers are limited to 1G or even less. Issue is building things tough enough to withstand the forces involved. Not just tough, light. The controllers are a current limiting factor, and very expensive ($150 blank, needs firmware upload usually). A PI with a HAT would be cheaper, but not if Hyperion are going to be charging silly money for a license. Pile it high, sell it cheap. Raspbian is the main opponent, and that's free.

Dear old Mr F-35 uses two PPC derived processors, triple redundancy, for exactly this purpose. The details are of course classified, but the applicataion is identical, and the hardware is derived from a common ancestor of both the Amiga and the F-35. The Commodore PET, with the good old IEE parallel connector.

When scientists were able to input and process real world data, in real time, for the first time, the world changed. Humanity got a new card to play with. It was like a snowball that started an avalanche.

The next card to play with is a machine that can do that, and in itself, output and cause an effect, by physical output. 3D printers are but a small part of that next step.

Mostly I just throw snowballs. It's amazing what can happen, y'know.

[Pat the Cat]

Originally Posted by Steril707

I think the most important software for an OS is a browser with modern features.

Everything else is sugar coat on top of this these days.

I don't use "a" browser, and I don't trust OS that are written around a browser.

There are open sources available for developers (Chromium and Mozilla/Firefox maybe) but quite frankly, it is a thankless task, with no hope of reward on this platform.

I guess what somebody could do is build in advertising. Same way this site does. That way, you could earn money from legitimate use of your browser.

Until the cracks appeared, about 3.9 seconds after your uploaded it. But honest people using it would maybe not go there.

I'm paying for these ads in bandwidth. I don't get unlimited access. That's fair, it's a very good forum site. The site owners get their cut, and hopefully that's enough to sustain things.

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by Romanujan

@idrougge - So DEFER is useless.

Possibly for your purposes, but not for its intended purpose.

[idrougge]

I find that AssignWedge removes most of my assignment needs.

[kgc210]

I think some modern tools like an up to date PDF reader would be handy.

I don't know if a port of Sumatra PDF would be doable as it uses C and C++
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatra_PDF

Although it uses the backend MuPDF which is plane C
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MuPDF

Not interested in lower 68K ports. Just keep it 060.

[E-Penguin]

A modern-ish browser would be nice. I tried to get NetSurf m68k running on my vampire-equipped A600 and it wouldn't start.

[Romanujan]

Google services cloud support:

-contact synchronization for YAM, SimpleMail, CManager
-printer driver for Google Cloud Print service

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by kgc210

Not interested in lower 68K ports. Just keep it 060.

Yeah, because only what you want is important and screw everyone else

[kgc210]

Originally Posted by Thorham

Yeah, because only what you want is important and screw everyone else

Or perhaps keeping hardware expectations more realistic?

[E-Penguin]

A 060 is not a realistic hardware expectation. Have you seen how much they go for?

If one were to baseline a new "minimum requirement"; AGA/RTG + 030 + 64Mb Fast is probably more reasonable.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Romanujan

Google services cloud support:

-contact synchronization for YAM, SimpleMail, CManager

Should be relatively easily done with some decent ARexx scripting if someone could port an open-source contact synchronising app...

-printer driver for Google Cloud Print service

Already exists for OS4, maybe asking the author nicely enough for a 68k port might work - that is, unless it uses OS4-specific features.

[EugeneNine]

I would suggest a simpler webDAV support so you could access not just google services but many others built off the the webDAV standard.

[amiga_500]

An updated AWeb to support AmiSSL 4.1 APIs, would be great !
IBrowse 2.5 will support amissl 4.1, but no one knows when it will be released.

I wouldn't like a "modern" browser on Amiga.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by EugeneNine

I would suggest a simpler webDAV support so you could access not just google services but many others built off the the webDAV standard.

I have solved this by stuffing a Raspberry Pi Zero inside the Amiga, it can do all the "advanced" networking and cloudy stuff, and just export webdav or whatever to the Amiga using either NFS (or SMB, if you are into that). Bonus feature, the Raspberry Pi Zero also acts as NAT gateway for the Amiga, so it is all wireless (just a short ethernet cable inside the box between Amiga ethernet NIC and USB ethernet NIC plugged into the Pi zero). It also is "ssh jump-host" (rsh, telnet, or telser.device from Amiga to the Pi, ssh from there to the world), and web-proxy (so the Amiga can reach IPv6 only web services, for example, and a proxy can also do https, saving the Amiga from the encryption struggle).

[nogginthenog]

Originally Posted by kolla

I have solved this by stuffing a Raspberry Pi Zero inside the Amiga, it can do all the "advanced" networking and cloudy stuff, and just export webdav or whatever to the Amiga using either NFS (or SMB, if you are into that). Bonus feature, the Raspberry Pi Zero also acts as NAT gateway for the Amiga, so it is all wireless (just a short ethernet cable inside the box between Amiga ethernet NIC and USB ethernet NIC plugged into the Pi zero). It also is "ssh jump-host" (rsh, telnet, or telser.device from Amiga to the Pi, ssh from there to the world), and web-proxy (so the Amiga can reach IPv6 only web services, for example, and a proxy can also do https, saving the Amiga from the encryption struggle).

That's a great idea. I think I might do something like this.

I assume you have a big box Amiga? Where are you mounting your PI? One solution is a blank Zorro/ISA/PCI bracket (I already have a eSATA card on such a bracket).

Most of the Micro USB to USB adaptors seem a bit big.

[kolla]

Originally Posted by nogginthenog

I assume you have a big box Amiga? Where are you mounting your PI? One solution is a blank Zorro/ISA/PCI bracket (I already have a eSATA card on such a bracket).

Right, I plan to make a card I can just stuff into one of the ISA slots in the A3000, for power etc. But so far it is just a card-board box, and power comes from Amiga PSU floppy power connector).

On the smaller systems I have just been "creative" (lazy), like on the photo attached, lol

Most of the Micro USB to USB adaptors seem a bit big.

Indeed, and often crappy too. I want to use shorter ethernet cable, but the adapter I currently use is not happy about that, so I have ordered a few new ones that I hope will arrive soon.

[Amiga1992]

I still don't get why you have an ethernet cable, can't you just wire this to the serial port and have a SLIP connection? It would save you a lot of cable fuckery and headaches.
If I understood right, you are connecting them through a NIC. So you need an Amiga NIC (not the easiest/cheapest thing to find and run, I never managed to get a PCMCIA card working).
If you do serial the GPIO to serial module is really cheap and widely available and you canwire it straight to the AMIga.

We discussed it here before:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=88037