Why isnt Amiga OS running on a ppc mac?

[asm1]

Originally Posted by papa_november

Amiga inc. is a bunch of jerks. That's literally the reason.

This Applies to :

Commodore, for making a mess of things and going tits up.
Escom who bought out Commodore's mess.... did nothing with it.... and went tits up.
Gateway 2000 for buying up the Escom/Commodore mess.... prick teasing with all sorts of grand plans, and then yes, you guessed it, doing nothing with it and selling it on.
Amiga Inc are just the latest in a long line.... sadly.

Before somebody shouts at me for saying that Escom did nothing... Ok they re released the A1200 and A4000, but again, they neither significantly improved or added anything new to the line.

Unfortunately, whilst I love the Amiga it is painfully clear that no-one who has/had control of the brand has either the slightest clue what if anything to do with it.

New hardware ? Makes me laugh.... people jump up and down saying they have the "latest" Amiga hardware that runs OS 4.1

typically conversations go along the lines of:

Person 1 : "So you have new Amiga hardware then?"
Person 2 : "Yes I have a Sam 440/Amiga one"
Person 1: "Sweet, what does it do?"
Person 2: "I can run OS 4.1 on it"
Person 1: "Nice! Does it run all the old stuff too?"
Person 2: "Nope!"
Person 1: "Umm... so what do you do with it ?"
Person 2: "I run Amiga OS4.1"
Person 1: "Is that all ? Aren't there any commercial versions of software?"
Person 2: "Nope. there's a few websites on the internet that offer apps."
Person 1 "Really ? so what do you do with it ?"
Person 2 "Well, it runs OS4.1"

.....................

Now from what I have seen OS 4.1 is pretty nice. BUT the question remains. What can you do with it ? I mean yeah sure having an Amiga OS running on semi modern hardware is all very well and good, but what good is the hardware if no software is being developed for it ? It won't run the old stuff so IMHO its screwed from the start. It doesn't matter whether the OS runs on an Amiga, a mobile phone, my car stereo a microwave or a damn space ship......

What pray tell is the point when there are no software developers around to support the platform?

I'm not talikng about the "Homebrewers" who do wonderful things on their own and publish them for the good of all, but the bigger software companies which prop up/support/encourage the growth a platform with their applications.

"But Apple dropped legacy support in osX...." yes but unlike Apple - Amiga OS4.1 isn't a very well supported platform... it was silly of them to completely dump backwards compatibility. What Amiga Inc/Hyperion have done is basically a cash-in. They are relying on "Classic Amiga" owners to upgrade to new hardware without having the foundations in place to make the platform a viable alternative to Mac/Windows. Yet we are expected to pay around the same price for this new hardware as we would for a PC or Mac.

"But But But..... it runs OS 4.1"

Not good enough.

[Firthy2002]

Aye what's the point of Amiga OS4.1 if I can't browse the web properly (that's flash/java support included), play my various formats of music, play games, etc.

Not to mention needing a pricy new computer just to run it on that only runs Amiga OS4.1 and maybe Yellow Dog Linux too.

At least on x86 it could potentially have a fighting chance (although we already have Linux as the hobby OS). Or ported to X360/PS3/Wii.

Or an official port to PPC Macs. At least people could try it without having to spend a fortune on a previously mentioned pricy new computer.

[kriz]

Hopefully the next update of Morphos will suport the mac mini (v 2.4).. I allready got a mac mini 1.5Ghz here.. Looking forward

[Doc Mindie]

Originally Posted by Fred the Fop

You're fantasizing. Why should Apple do this, really?
Do you think they even care about Amiga OS? Seriously.

Uhm.... I think you miss the point... I believe there were plenty of people running "Macs" on their Amiga back in the early 90's who didn't license the MacOS..... hence "return the favour".

What Apple doesn't know about running on their computer designs, doesn't hurt them. Unless we forget to reinstall OSX before returning the computer for repairs.... :P

[TCD]

Current gen Macs are based on Intel procs right? So... what exactly was the point again?

[NovaCoder]

Originally Posted by asm1

This Applies to :

What pray tell is the point when there are no software developers around to support the platform?

I'm not talikng about the "Homebrewers" who do wonderful things on their own and publish them for the good of all, but the bigger software companies which prop up/support/encourage the growth a platform with their applications.

It's a classic chicken and egg situ, without a lot of active users you won't have much software development (homebrew & commercial) but without available software you won't attract many new users

The best thing that Hyperion have done recently is to release the 4.1 SDK.....that should see some more software being developed over the next year.

Saying that, it's obvious that OS4 badly needs some core updates and a UI rethink to move forward.

[Doc Mindie]

Make the next AmigaOS for a specific Intel/AMD motherboard, and a specific gfx card (Radeon 1400, for example) and a specific soundcard. Stuff a "kickstart" on an addon PCI-card (in muchly the same manner as a SCSI card).

That way, we "only" need a small set of drivers, which will also work, although not as well, on better than minimum spec hardware.

Throw in an integrated (almost seemless) UAE for fairly good backwards compatability with our 3.9 and earlier software. At least, with hardware thus costing in the vicinity of £250 - £300, it's something "everyone" can afford, and it can even run native Windows if we need to use anything alien.