Amiga vs WinUAE

[Dan]

At this point is, clearly, WinUae my favorite.

The Reasons are:

1. You can have 1 or more emulators running beside each other. (at least on windows systems).
2. Switching disks is easier in Emulation, and ADF's do not take up Place.
3. Joypads/sticks are now easier to get for the PC than Amiga. (although Amiga j-pads are simpler to repair or make).
4. Speed: What you can't to with the Hardware is to speedup the execution. Programs that used to load or be busy for Hours/days (remember Ray tracing on A500) can be fastened up through emulation.
5. Working/Playing on the Emulator and Browsing the internet is still easier on the PC side - you need only 1 keyboard/mouse/monitor for it.
6. Not enough memory ? No problem with emulation. Nowadays PC's have more than enough RAM.
7. Hard Drive size: Dependent on your windows config. 3TB are possible, even for the (emulated) amiga 500 !
8. Transferring data (for modification eg. DPainting pictures, composing music etc etc) is easier with WinUae/PC solution.
9. Laptopability (wordplay on portability). Have your Amiga everywhere !

The emulation is Great and it continues to improve.

Thanks to Toni W.

[Glen M]

I honestly cannot enjoy any software unless its played on the original hardware. For me there is something about seeing the original hardware come to life and run those games (or whatever software) we love to play. I'd rather have the original hardware and use a copy of a game than vice versa. I also enjoy modding the hardware where I can and am capable of to increase its functionality.

My hardware collection currently consists of

Amiga
A500 stock with 512kb expansion. Future upgrades will include vampire and a custom case.
A1200 recapped with ACA1233N, 80gb 2.5" IDE drive and pcmcia scsi cd-rom drive.
CD32 recapped with TF328 and 16gb CF card. I'd prefer to have an IDE drive in here but it won't fit. Keep meaning to review this as I think with a custom housing I might be able to make something work. The cd laser need replaced at somepoint. I've upped the voltage on the laser a bit and its working again for now 90% of the time. I have the parts so just need to get around to doing it.

I also have a decent collection of other consoles / computers

Sega. I love me some sega
Master System
Master System 2
Megadrive 1. I have 2 of these. 1 is stock the other is region modded, pause button added and it was overclocked to 10mhz but wasn't stable.
Gamegear (been recapped but really needs a new screen)
Saturn. Modded for region switching.
Dreamcast. Stock but I am considering an IDE mod. Only thing holding me back is the software for it isn't 100% compatible.

Nintendo. I'm not the biggest nintendo fan but when I find a bargain I can't pass
Gameboy advance, the original one not the flip one. Need a new backlit screen.
DS lite, DS lite XL
Gamecube
WII

Sony
Playstation. I have 3 of these and 1 more shell. Seem to be a dime a dozen at car boot sales etc. The 3 work but all have slight issues. I have a game genie thing for the parallel port reflashed with softmod software. Lets me play import games. I might consider a mod chip at some point.
Playstation 2. I have 2 of these. Probably my least favourite system in the collection. One has the IDE expansion and a 120gb drive with free mcboot on a memory card.
PSP. Great system to collect for right now. All games are generally under £5 with most selling at £1. I think this will explode in another few years.


Microsoft
Original Xbox. Fitted with an xecuter 2 chip and a 160gb hdd. The drive needs replaced as its getting very noise. One of my favourite systems I use this for xbox games and arcade emulation.

x86
Pentium 2 266 dos / win98 machine with a voodoo3. The voodoo is a bit overpowered for this machine. I fancy pairing this processor with a matrox gpu and putting the voodoo in one of my other PC such as my Pentium 3 1ghz.
Pentium 4 windows xp machine
Another spare Pentium 4 machine which might get an AROS install.
Dell windows 98 laptop. I do most of my retro windows 98 gaming on this as its so handy but its showing age and starting to suffer display faults.

Others
Toshiba MSX 64k. My first computer. I set it up again last year and its a good underrated 8 bit system in my opinion.
Atari 2600 Junior. I think every retro collector has one of these.

Faulty
Atari 2600 6 switcher. Just shows a garbled screen. I will one day fix this even if it means robbing my junior for parts.
C64. Was working for 30 seconds until my PSU blew the backside out of it. Now just shows a garbled screen. I've tried replace nearly everything in this and can't fix it. I'll have another go someday.
Weird 70s 6 sports game console. Dead as hector and I haven't a clue. Its really just a shelf item.

I have a selection of original games for each but I'll admit the majority of my games are copies. The retro game collection scene is to expensive for me for the 80s, 90s machines. Most the games I collect are for the 00's machines which can generally still be picked up for a few £ at charity shops or boot sales. Just this morning I picked up a few PSP and DS games for £1.50 and £2 each. PC games for the windows XP time are now all cheap and plentiful. PS2 games are a dime a dozen everywhere and I don't collect them. You sometime find the odd PS3 or Xbox 360 game out there. You also sometimes find PS1 games cheap but most resellers are looking £5 - £10 each and some charity shops are now asking £15 - £20 per game. The way I look at it is those games are no longer available from the original distributors so why should I pay over the odds to line the pocket of some reseller when I can get a copy cheap or free. If I find the original at the right price I'll bounce on it but I'm not a person who must own the original. For me its all about the hardware and playing the game with the original controller on the original hardware.

Edit. The only emulation I use is arcade emulation viva mame on the xbox and winuae on the laptop to setup drives for the amiga. Arcade hardware is just to expensive all be it I always keep an eye out just in case. I missed out on sunset riders (my favourite arcade game, used to be in cabinet in the local taxi rank which I called into all the time walking home from school as a child) a year or so ago for only £40 and I'm gutted I didn't get it. Winuae has its place for me for setting up drives or copying software to my drives. I wouldn't though sit down and play a game for any length of time in winuae.

[mvasic]

Both.

I still have my very first C64 and A500. In perfect working order, out on the desk. Managed to snag A1200 from ebay, couple of years ago, for $150. Also out on the desk.

I use WinUAE mostly for prepping Amiga disks, but I don't mind running software/games on it.

I enjoy using my old systems. The fact that I still have fun using them is awesome.

[MigaTech]

It would be interesting to know what the original creator of winUAE thinks of this question? Does Toni Wilen still use Amiga hardware or just winUAE?


@Glen M, interesting post.

[Dunny]

Toni isn't the original creator of WinUAE.

[DamienD]

@MegaTech; of course Toni has to use both... how do you think he gets such a thorough understanding of Amiga hardware / software before optimising, making additions / new features and undertaking bug fixes to WinUAE.

[MigaTech]

Originally Posted by DamienD

@MegaTech; of course Toni has to use both... how do you think he gets such a thorough understanding of Amiga hardware / software before optimising, making additions / new features and undertaking bug fixes to WinUAE.

What an excellent post, yes I guess you are right DamienD he would have to use both, it is quite obvious when you think about it. How silly of me.

@Dunny, yes I was aware that Toni wasn't the original developer, maybe I should of worded it better. I was interested in all views, specially Toni as I know he is a member of EAB. Thanks for your bringing it to my attention though.

@Toni Wilen, if you are reading this thread, please offer your opinions on what you think in regards to all this. Thank you.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

I agree with Dan, the old Amiga are cumbersome, outdated, in need of technical assistance. In my start Amiga is represented mainly from his OS independently Where is he from executed, the carcasses and the hardware are of minor import.

[UberFreak]

To me, the entire point of this hobby is to use the original hardware.
WinUAE is great for setting up drives, which is the only thing I use it for.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

You are limited to using only that model, always spend money on maintenance and upgrading. With WinUAE you have all the AMiGA models with maximum expansion with just one click. To conclude the AMiGA Hardware very soon will extinguish with its users (now all old), WinUAE it will remain forever and will never die.

[Glen M]

I think the hardware will be fine for a good few years more. Considering my 1983 msx is still going strong i think my 1993 amiga will be fine.

The emulation has potential to last longer but there will always be hardware.

What happens when there is no more x86 or x64 hardware to run the emulators?

[kolla]

Originally Posted by Glen M

I honestly cannot enjoy any software unless its played on the original hardware.

I am very happy that I don't have this disability, if anything, I quite enjoy using hardware for something else than what it was "intended" for

[Dunny]

Originally Posted by Glen M

What happens when there is no more x86 or x64 hardware to run the emulators?

Well, there of course will be emulators....

But that's the beauty of open source. When the intel line finally dies and something better comes along, WinUAE will just be ported over to it and it'll continue as if nothing happened.

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by Glen M

What happens when there is no more x86 or x64 hardware to run the emulators?

That's probably only going to happen when our sun starts swelling up in a billion years or so

[rare_j]

We'll all be probably living on the moon by then.

[AdvanceFollow]

Originally Posted by Dunny

Well, there of course will be emulators....

But that's the beauty of open source. When the intel line finally dies and something better comes along, WinUAE will just be ported over to it and it'll continue as if nothing happened.

But what if the source code is destroyed?

Emulators are going to be around as long as there are people interested in using them. UAE has already been ported to ARM, and could be ported to other architectures. Anyone with some knowledge of programming can fork or take over the project and continue to develop it. Of course one day, everyone who knew and remembered Amiga will be long gone, but that's a different problem.

[Daedalus]

Even if WinUAE was closed source, do you not think someone would come up with an x86 emulator? There are literally millions of applications and games out there for x86 that people might like to run on a non-x86 platform in the future, so I really can't see any problems running it in the future. In fact, arguably this is already happening if you're running 32-bit WinUAE on 64-bit Windows - there's a compatibility layer in place that emulates the full x86 environment on an x64 machine, and full 32-bit x86 CPU emulation is provided for Windows version running on ARM or Itanium CPUs.

[Seiya]

well, in 3000AC Amiga hardware will be dust. WinUAE and every others emulators will run on Quantum or maybe in new technologies Computers

[Glen M]

My comment of what will we do when x86 is gone was a bit tong in check to be honest. I still think the hardware will always be about. Even if the ICs start to fail I wouldn't see it beyond the community in the future to have a replace new part of FPGA replacement.

[E-Penguin]

I think the ICs have a fair few decades in them yet - look at Voyager (not an Amiga, I grant you) and other long lived space missions that have been running constantly in high radiation environments for decades. Sure they're mil spec, but still... A few hours of light use a week should see most Amigas outlive their owners, I'd have thought.