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Amiga As A Compatibility Tool For Linux
Milk-Boy directs your attention to this amiga.org editorial, which raises an interesting point about compatibility, and the downside to Linux's constant development. The work-around suggested to breaking programs is to use the (upcoming) Amiga OS under Linux. It reads, in part, "[W]hy should developers slave away writing one game over and over again when they can write it once, optimize it for specific platforms if desired (Amiga's operating system is real-time and thus quite fast), and release it on all major software platforms -- including Linux -- simultaneously. Suddenly Windows becomes a choice, not a given -- and the world will be well." The argument is extended by mentioning that StarOffice and Mozilla are also planned for the Amiga OS.
If the operating systems Amiga is running on top of are not real-time, how does it achieve real-time status? Or is it one of those shutdown your OS and restart with another things? Does anyone know?
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Amiga's operating system is real-time and thus quite fast
Real-time only means it meets timing guarantees. Not that it is fast. Real-time only means when I say it'll take 100 days to add two numbers, it absolutely won't take 101 days.
Sure, real time operating systems commonly are relatively quick but one does not automatically imply the other.
Armed with a legacy of being the most capable gaming platform on the market, the new Amiga DE
It is either new or it has a legacy. I don't understand how it can have both. In any case I seriously doubt this statement is anything other than marketing vapor.
For game developers, Amiga's powerful multiplatform, multimedia-centric Amiga DE is a dream come true.
Multiplatform and multimedia-centric are relatively useless buzzwords for game developers. Until Amiga's SDK becomes as powerful as DirectX (not that I'm saying DirectX is perfect, just that it's nice not to have to reinvent the wheel all the time) the Amiga will never be a dream come true for developers.
At under 5MB total, the Amiga DE can even run piggy-back on game discs for Nintendo's Game Cube
and Sony's Playstation
That's a lot. The original Playstation only has 2 MB of system memory. The N64 has 4 MB. The Dreamcast has 16 MB. I'm not sure I want the OS eating up over 1/4 of the available memory on my console. Since it doesn't sound like they're talking about consoles, what do they mean when they say "multiplatform"?
Ports of StarOffice and Mozilla (and thereby Netscape 6 and beyond) are already planned
Lots of things are planned. Some of them actually end up happening.
Bottom line: if Linux were to become an Open System by adopting open industry standards and stating compliance, rapid change would be irrelevant to developers because Linux would always be backward compatible. UNIX did this years ago.
More information on open systems is available at the SEI's Open Systems page.
Well I have the SDK so I think I could answer some of your questions:
.04=386, .16=PPC, .24=Pentium2, etc.
Real-time only means it meets timing guarantees. Not that it is fast. Real-time only means when I say it'll take 100 days to add two numbers, it absolutely won't take 101 days.
Yes, its true. It only means that it will meet the timing requirements. I'm sure that it doesn't meet them when it is hosted, but for a virtual processor is really fast. I always read here comparisons with Java. Java is slow, very slow. I have the Windows SDK and everything runs as fast as the host. I heard the Linux SDK is even faster. I was really surprised with the speed of the alpha blending demos that come with the SDK.
It is either new or it has a legacy. I don't understand how it can have both. In any case I seriously doubt this statement is anything other than marketing vapor.
You are right, this line is just marketing stuff.
Multiplatform and multimedia-centric are relatively useless buzzwords for game developers. Until Amiga's SDK becomes as powerful as DirectX (not that I'm saying DirectX is perfect, just that it's nice not to have to reinvent the wheel all the time) the Amiga will never be a dream come true for developers.
The Amiga DE will come with RenderWare (according to the manuals) and the framework is used in PS2, Dreamcast, PC and Mac. Don't know anything about sound or input devices but they are supposed to be working on something. We'll see.
That's a lot. The original Playstation only has 2 MB of system memory. The N64 has 4 MB. The Dreamcast has 16 MB. I'm not sure I want the OS eating up over 1/4 of the available memory on my console. Since it doesn't sound like they're talking about consoles, what do they mean when they say "multiplatform"?
The PS1 and the N64 don't count anymore. Everyone will start programming for the Dolphin, PS2, and Dreamcast only. They are talking about consoles and computers as well. The OS can run hosted in other operating systems and native in a lot of chips. Why everyone that posts here doesn't even bother to look for information before posting? Visit TAO which is the basis of the new OS.
Another thing you guys should know. Not everything is 'virtual-assembly'. When you compile a program the extension is program.00 (.00 means VP, the virtual processor instructions). You could compile to native code if you wanted but you will lose the portability. There is an extension for each native processor, for example
The only thing that I actually is a huge, but HUGE mistake is, believe it or not, that it doesn't have memory protection. It only protects the addresses from 0-128. I heard they were going to add it, and that currently it wasn't there because it was an embedded os. I hope is true.