Using ClassicWB today

[TenLeftFingers]

I run a small business part-time and I'm interested in ressurrecting an Amiga for the computer related work which is relatively simple. I'd like to know how plausible it is to be able to do the following:

• Send email with attachments
• Browse static websites (even a terminal program like lynx on linux would be fine as long as I can read the text).

• Print documents

Wireless would be a bonus.

• And either:

A word-processor that can password protect documents, or
A zip tool that can password protect the zipped files.

• Nice to have but not necessary

Run something like a dropbox client for syncing with home machine.
Mount an android phone.
Play YouTube videos.
HTML5 websites.
Browse this webforum.

Thanks for your help!

[Jope]

You will be disappointed.

This is not a ClassicWB related problem per se, but more of an AmigaOS, Amiga application and 68k CPU power related problem. :-)

[jbenam]

I think you should be able to do all the "basic" things you listed. The A1200 can easily use Wireless as well. EAB is actually surfable on A1200, from what I've seen.

Obviously you'll need an expansion of some sorts.

Most of the "nice to have" list are doable but will require PPC and/or AmigaOS 4.1 (HTML5, YouTube). I think there's also an MTP implementation (to mount things like Android phones) for AOS 4.x...

[fitzsteve]

I think an A4000 with RTG and a fast 040 or 060 would be ok for your basic requirements but you will have no fun doing these tasks without RTG.

Your 'nice to have' requirements might be possible on an a NG Amiga such as the X1000.

You would be able to everything you list at a fraction of the price on PC so from a business point of view that would be a no brainer and keep your Amiga's for fun.

[Locutus]

For email YAM is actually a pretty nice client, but it doesn’t support IMAP and i'm not sure about how its SSL support is for 2015

[Anubis]

Worst of all, for part of price you would pay for an amiga, you could have all of that (and probably more) on for example Raspberry Pi.

There was some stuff Amiga was good at, like video editing back in day, even some business applications are there such as word processor and spreadsheet, but good luck with use and security...

Those packs are more for gaming enthusiast... just like Amiga once was...

[TenLeftFingers]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. What I've taken away from what you're all saying is that the hardware/OS combinations will vary the outcome a lot and it's pretty hard to tell if I'll be happy or get annoyed with performance. An A1200 might cut it.. but it mightn't. I'm also attached to that form factor.

But Anubis' curveball of using a Raspberry Pi has me rethinking a little since I actually have one of those. I just saw a video of Stephen Jones running AROS on it. So I'm confused now

So what I'm going to do is emulate first and try and get my basics working (wordprocessing and password protecting documents before emailing them).

I'll try with ClassicWB, OS4.1 and maybe Aros/MorphOS and see which does those best without departing too much from the Amiga experience I remember from the nineties.

Thanks again,
Ten

[jbenam]

Otherwise, if you really really want to live the Amiga Experience™ without paying huge loads of money, there's always WinUAE.

Grab a fairly recent PC, buy AOS 4.1 Final Edition, and install it on WinUAE You'll have a super-powerful expanded classic Amiga for something like 1/10 of the cost!

[TenLeftFingers]

Yes, I'm running FS-UAE on Ubuntu linux. My CPU is 9 years old so it could be more powerful but it's good enough for emulating amiga games. I'll try that first and see where it takes me. If I get a setup that works well for me then I can consider hardware choices.

I love the A1200 form so whatever hardware route I go will need to fit in that

PS: Love the signature "Italian Amiga Zealot"