Amiga as a replacement to Windows

01 October 2006, 11:20

Hi guys, Im new here. Actually Im new to the Amiga world too.

But I have a laptop sitting there not getting much usage. Ive tried messing about with Linux and thats pretty cool.

But I remember going round my friends house playing Amiga games as a kid and I want to set that up now! I have played with WinUAE before which worked well, but just didn't feel right as it was an application sitting on top of MS Windows.

I guess the best thing to do is to buy a real amiga, but I dont have space for that.

I recently learnt you can boot your computer directly into AmigaOS (with Amiga Forever right?). This is what I want to achieve.

But a few questions, it seems the Amiga community although niche, is still going quite strong and I'm hoping you guys have developered solutions for...

1) Can you play MP3s?
2) Surf the net using broadband?

I know it might sound stupid, but as I said Im quite new to the scene looking for an alternative to Windows and was hoping the above solutions are available now.

keropi · 01 October 2006, 14:00

one main disadvantage is the lack of a modern browser... all amiga ones are outdated...

kriz · 01 October 2006, 14:21

Getting a pegasos might be an option ? Full new ppc hardware.

Playing mp3`s i can do on my A4000 also web browsing/chatting but its limited...

AMIGAZ · 01 October 2006, 15:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by kriz

Getting a pegasos might be an option ? Full new ppc hardware.

Playing mp3`s i can do on my A4000 also web browsing/chatting but its limited...

Still outdated browsers if you get a Peg and run MOS

but browsing will be faster

kriz · 01 October 2006, 16:21

Yeah, but lets hope the new Sputnik browser will be better!

http://khtml.ppa.pl/

Ultron · 01 October 2006, 17:25

Translation: No.

Perhaps trying BeOS or Haiku would be a better solution.

kriz · 01 October 2006, 19:02

Translation: Yes

Port biblioteki KHTML dla MorphOSa
english version

Its the first text from top under the menu..

_ThEcRoW · 01 October 2006, 19:23

Have you checked Amithlon?

Charlie · 03 October 2006, 01:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by _ThEcRoW

Have you checked Amithlon?

If you can find a copy it would be well worth it.

1) MP3's - No problems - there are AmigaOS apps that will do MP3 & under Amithlon you will get a '68k system' on an x86 box that has enough grunt to do it properly.

2) As I type I'm running AmigaOS 3.9 on an x86 box via a router & B.B. connection.

As mentioned there are limits to what you can do under AmigaOS so I would suggest multi-booting with other OS's.

All this can be done on real 68k Amiga but will need a lot of upgrading to approach the comfort of Amithlon if you realy want to use as a main OS.

For me AOS4 & MorphOS remain too much of an unknown quantity ( quite apart form the inconvenience of the extra hardware ) but I remain interested. UAE is great but booting on-top of another OS does get frustrating if you put it to a lot of use & it doesn't 'feel' right. ( probaly because of the underlaying OS )

AROS may be one to watch for the future.

A version of BeOS is the most Amiga-like enviroment with any kind of software support. ( BeOS 5, BeOS-Max, Dano, Haiku, Zeta )
SkyOS - QNX - ReactOS are others that may be of interest...

A.F. comes with KX-Light which is a stripped-out Linux with UAE on top. This gives something close to Amithlon but still doesn't feel quite right to me - quite apart fom my never being able to get on with Linux.

Welcome to the EAB!

Methanoid · 03 October 2006, 08:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charlie

A version of BeOS is the most Amiga-like enviroment with any kind of software support. ( BeOS 5, BeOS-Max, Dano, Haiku, Zeta )
SkyOS - QNX - ReactOS are others that may be of interest...

A.F. comes with KX-Light which is a stripped-out Linux with UAE on top. This gives something close to Amithlon but still doesn't feel quite right to me - quite apart fom my never being able to get on with Linux.

Charlie, helpful post which got me thinking about this too..

I think I can get hold of an Amithlon disk somewhere

but I have lost touch with BeOS some years ago.. didnt it flunk out after the initial spurt?

And with AF do you see any of the Linux when booting? I kinda like the idea of editing the PC BIOS to change the Bootscreen (Amiga logo) and then dumping down into an Amiga CLI while booting and then into Workbench with NO PC-like signs at all.

Since I am mid-way through a major system rebuild for my home PCs I can see a dedicated "Amiga" appearing real soon!

Charlie · 03 October 2006, 11:59

@ Methanoid:

I'm glad my ramblings have been some use

It all depends what you're after:

Classic System:- Good for the retro hobby & useful day-to-day if well upgraded.

Amithlon ( KX-Light maybe ):- The minimum I would suggest if you're crazy enough to use A-OS as your main system ( like me! )
-KX Light does not look like Linux booting - you get the KX boot screen & then into AOS... It is setup like Amithlon as an Auto-boot CD which you will probably want to HD-install for best use, but is much harder to modify for this purpose. ( Not helped by a lack of docs from Cloanto )
-Amithlon is genuinely the nearest to the 'real' Amiga experience on x86 hardware - apart from being stupidly fast. There are some potential compatability problems with newer hardware as it is quite an old proggie now.

As you say BeOS has pretty much died a death, but continues to have a lively hobbyist community with OS5 based distro's about along with an open-source project ( Haiku ) and an offical version in the shape of ZETA.
My own machine Multiboots between AOS3.9, Zeta1.2, & XP <-you can't get away from it!!
( XP isn't bad once you've cut all the fat from it - nLite

)

Of the others I mentioned:
SkyOS is wonderful but maybe too small a project to have a useful software base.
QNX would be my OS of choice IF it was supported as a general desktop OS
ReactOS is an open-source XP clone!! It currently doesn't run much, but as soon as it can manage WinUAE I'll try a minimal install just for UAE.

I would love to try MOS & AOS4, but am not prepared to clutter up my house with more hardware unless I could initially emulate to try out. Even then until both will run on the same box with a good spec it's unlikley...

Don't forget AROS - not there yet, but probably the future of AOS if you are talking seroius use rather than a retro-hobby.

Hmmm - another looong post, others may disagree with some of my points.

keropi · 03 October 2006, 12:16

IMHO, you cannot completelly replace windows with another OS. only because windows have thousands of programs, and frankly some excellent ones are only developed for them. not even linux can compare to those progs, that has a huge user-base, but unfortunatelly a great percentage of it's native software are just clones of each other, or photoshop for example...

Charlie · 03 October 2006, 12:24

The bottom line is if your Os doesn't run on the same hardware as Windoze you're stuffed!

Even then don't ever expect a big user-base...

Still; there is room for minority platforms

Methanoid · 03 October 2006, 12:42

Well I've been looking around a bit.

SKYOS http://www.skyos.org/ looks very nice but no free demo so unless you are an OS freak who likes paying for something you might think is shite not so great. BeOS they did free DL demos. I wonder if this is on Torrent or Usenet!?!?!

It looks worth a LOOK at least!

REACTOS www.reactos.org is a WinXP clone but compatibility doesn't look too great to me. Also its in early development.

Methanoid · 12 November 2006, 23:57

Well it seems SkyOS whilst looking pretty isnt even big enough to have been "warez'd" yet so I suspect will die a death.... Pity!

UPDATE - it has been torrented as an older beta without USB support etc so again a little pointless.

ISTR MS released 95 beta pretty publicly - surely the SkyOS team could have a time limited fully functional FREE beta?

Methanoid · 13 November 2006, 11:32

I've still been interested in SkyOS but only just noticed it doesnt support S-ATA and that's a bit of a killer for me.

Charlie · 15 November 2006, 20:14

Sadly SkyOS is likely to fail simply due to lack of development resources.

A big shame as I think it has a lot of potential.

Still - amazing what such a small team has achieved.

In a way I hope they give up on it as commercial software before interest evaporates. It may have a future as an alternate free OpenSource OS

lours · 06 November 2008, 23:44

Did someone tested Winuae under Reactos ?

01 October 2006, 11:20	#1
BitmapBros Posts: n/a	Amiga as a replacement to Windows Hi guys, Im new here. Actually Im new to the Amiga world too. But I have a laptop sitting there not getting much usage. Ive tried messing about with Linux and thats pretty cool. But I remember going round my friends house playing Amiga games as a kid and I want to set that up now! I have played with WinUAE before which worked well, but just didn't feel right as it was an application sitting on top of MS Windows. I guess the best thing to do is to buy a real amiga, but I dont have space for that. I recently learnt you can boot your computer directly into AmigaOS (with Amiga Forever right?). This is what I want to achieve. But a few questions, it seems the Amiga community although niche, is still going quite strong and I'm hoping you guys have developered solutions for... 1) Can you play MP3s? 2) Surf the net using broadband? I know it might sound stupid, but as I said Im quite new to the scene looking for an alternative to Windows and was hoping the above solutions are available now.

03 October 2006, 11:59	#11
Charlie . . Mouse . . Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nowhere Age: 55 Posts: 1,792	@ Methanoid: I'm glad my ramblings have been some use It all depends what you're after: Classic System:- Good for the retro hobby & useful day-to-day if well upgraded. Amithlon ( KX-Light maybe ):- The minimum I would suggest if you're crazy enough to use A-OS as your main system ( like me! ) -KX Light does not look like Linux booting - you get the KX boot screen & then into AOS... It is setup like Amithlon as an Auto-boot CD which you will probably want to HD-install for best use, but is much harder to modify for this purpose. ( Not helped by a lack of docs from Cloanto ) -Amithlon is genuinely the nearest to the 'real' Amiga experience on x86 hardware - apart from being stupidly fast. There are some potential compatability problems with newer hardware as it is quite an old proggie now. As you say BeOS has pretty much died a death, but continues to have a lively hobbyist community with OS5 based distro's about along with an open-source project ( Haiku ) and an offical version in the shape of ZETA. My own machine Multiboots between AOS3.9, Zeta1.2, & XP <-you can't get away from it!! ( XP isn't bad once you've cut all the fat from it - nLite ) Of the others I mentioned: SkyOS is wonderful but maybe too small a project to have a useful software base. QNX would be my OS of choice IF it was supported as a general desktop OS ReactOS is an open-source XP clone!! It currently doesn't run much, but as soon as it can manage WinUAE I'll try a minimal install just for UAE. I would love to try MOS & AOS4, but am not prepared to clutter up my house with more hardware unless I could initially emulate to try out. Even then until both will run on the same box with a good spec it's unlikley... Don't forget AROS - not there yet, but probably the future of AOS if you are talking seroius use rather than a retro-hobby. Hmmm - another looong post, others may disagree with some of my points. Last edited by Charlie; 03 October 2006 at 12:12.

03 October 2006, 12:24	#13
Charlie . . Mouse . . Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nowhere Age: 55 Posts: 1,792	The bottom line is if your Os doesn't run on the same hardware as Windoze you're stuffed! Even then don't ever expect a big user-base... Still; there is room for minority platforms Last edited by Charlie; 03 October 2006 at 12:33.

12 November 2006, 23:57	#15
Methanoid Retired Quartex Sysop Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Roman Verulamium Age: 58 Posts: 1,874	Well it seems SkyOS whilst looking pretty isnt even big enough to have been "warez'd" yet so I suspect will die a death.... Pity! UPDATE - it has been torrented as an older beta without USB support etc so again a little pointless. ISTR MS released 95 beta pretty publicly - surely the SkyOS team could have a time limited fully functional FREE beta? Last edited by Methanoid; 13 November 2006 at 11:33.

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01 October 2006, 14:00	#2
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	one main disadvantage is the lack of a modern browser... all amiga ones are outdated...

01 October 2006, 14:21	#3
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 42 Posts: 3,223	Getting a pegasos might be an option ? Full new ppc hardware. Playing mp3`s i can do on my A4000 also web browsing/chatting but its limited...

01 October 2006, 16:21	#5
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 42 Posts: 3,223	Yeah, but lets hope the new Sputnik browser will be better! http://khtml.ppa.pl/

01 October 2006, 17:25	#6
Ultron Something Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Amigaland, Nostalgia Age: 48 Posts: 757	Translation: No. Perhaps trying BeOS or Haiku would be a better solution.

01 October 2006, 19:02	#7
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 42 Posts: 3,223	Translation: Yes Port biblioteki KHTML dla MorphOSa english version Its the first text from top under the menu..

01 October 2006, 19:23	#8
_ThEcRoW Amiga NetRunner Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Spain Age: 45 Posts: 942	Have you checked Amithlon?

03 October 2006, 12:16	#12
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	IMHO, you cannot completelly replace windows with another OS. only because windows have thousands of programs, and frankly some excellent ones are only developed for them. not even linux can compare to those progs, that has a huge user-base, but unfortunatelly a great percentage of it's native software are just clones of each other, or photoshop for example...

03 October 2006, 12:42	#14
Methanoid Retired Quartex Sysop Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Roman Verulamium Age: 58 Posts: 1,874	Well I've been looking around a bit. SKYOS http://www.skyos.org/ looks very nice but no free demo so unless you are an OS freak who likes paying for something you might think is shite not so great. BeOS they did free DL demos. I wonder if this is on Torrent or Usenet!?!?! It looks worth a LOOK at least! REACTOS www.reactos.org is a WinXP clone but compatibility doesn't look too great to me. Also its in early development.

13 November 2006, 11:32	#16
Methanoid Retired Quartex Sysop Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Roman Verulamium Age: 58 Posts: 1,874	I've still been interested in SkyOS but only just noticed it doesnt support S-ATA and that's a bit of a killer for me.

15 November 2006, 20:14	#17
Charlie . . Mouse . . Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nowhere Age: 55 Posts: 1,792	Sadly SkyOS is likely to fail simply due to lack of development resources. A big shame as I think it has a lot of potential. Still - amazing what such a small team has achieved. In a way I hope they give up on it as commercial software before interest evaporates. It may have a future as an alternate free OpenSource OS

06 November 2008, 23:44	#18
lours Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Andorra Age: 55 Posts: 31	Did someone tested Winuae under Reactos ?

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