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New Sharp Zaurus Will Host Amiga Under Linux
Kozmik writes: "As somebody who once owned a fair number of Amigas, I still hold hope that one day they will make a comeback. This deal with Sharp will hopefully give the new AmigaOS some credibility. Since the new OS runs on top of many operating systems, including linux, includes one of the fastest Java virtual machines (provided by the TAO group), and has a shipping SDK, Sharp decided to partner with Amiga and its developer community rather then try to reproduce all of that. The end result is that the new Zaurus will become another AmigaOS platform." (Q: If a new Amiga falls out of a tree, is anyone harmed? A: It depends what year the tree is in.)
Having used Amigas for years for various applications, I'm fond of the machines, but a little hard pressed to figure out how an Amiga like the one that sits under my desk at home could possibly compete in today's market. A faster processor alone won't do it. A better interface is needed. Improvements to Exec and provisions for protected memory environments, too. The dependence on Agnes, Denise, and Paula has to be tossed, also. And when all of this is done, and the new system with the name "Amiga" debuts, it won't be the same one that hit the scene 16 years ago.
It might have the same name. It will probably perform better, but it won't be the same machine. If this new Amiga is a great box/interface/whatever, then I might buy into it; the name will be enough to cause me to give it serious consideration before deciding one way or the other. But I won't be fooled into thinking that there is a direct lineage between it and the computer with all those signatures inside the case.
7. You're reading a trade mag which tells you that a certain popular operating system of the 80s is making a comeback. In plain terms this means:
A. Serious development has produced results at OS/2 central
B. Serious money has produced results at VMS central
C. Guru Meditation has produced results at Amiga central
D. Alcohol has produced results at the editorial office
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Remember folks, the Amiga DE is basically a fast VP and Java core with a lot of supporting applications and software. Amiga is being used as a brand name here. The Amiga DE is not the old Amiga OS or Amiga hardware in any way, form or manner. It could have been called the "Haddock Java and VP engine from the company called Amiga".
However, Amiga Inc are also working on Amiga OS4.0 (PPC native Amiga OS, July 2001), OS4.2 (AmigaDE host, December 2001), OS4.5 (new front-end, etc, July 2002) and OS 5.0 (SMP, December 2002). There is a lot of info in the amigaone group at groups.yahoo.com, also at http://ann.lu/ and http://www.amigart.com/.
New Amiga hardware is almost here as well. PPC motherboards that will also run Linux from bPlan, etc. A lot of people on Slashdot want PPC motherboards - now you will be able to get them. There will be several makes, all conforming to the zico specification from AInc (6 PCI slots, AGP, PC133 memory, CPU slot for PPC ships (PPC processors are CBGA chips, so they need a slot based interface unless you mount them directly to the motherboard - no PGA processors like those from Intel and AMD), Firewire, USB, etc).
Have a laugh at the Amiga Politics. There are 3 Amiga OSs now - AROS (x86 native), MorphOS (PPC native) and now the official AmigaOS4.x from Amiga. The people don't get along with each other in general, although AROS are acting as the "Mozilla" to Amigas "Netscape" and MorphOSs "Netscape". So for a general idea of the next gen Amiga OS, look no further than AROS with bells and whistles attached.
The wonderful intergration of custom chips and a well designed OS (Guru errors aside, but that was class - nice, evil-looking flashing red error box!) and a dedication to the hacker community at large is what made the Amiga succeed in spite of everything Commodore did do kill it (although they eventually succeeded). How many computers and video cards do you know that actually ship with hardware schematics, now?
What's needed is someone to take hardware - be it G4 hardware, GF3 chips, whatever, standardize on it and then say "WE WILL SUPPORT THIS TILL DEATH DO US PART". This lets software developers push that metal to the limit, just like they did on the Amiga.
Hey Redhat: You want to get onto the desktop in a big way? Use some of that IPO cash to cut a deal with some hardware vendors. Make a sleek box, it doesn't even have to be X86. Just put state of the art 3D hardware in there; Fund the development of the API's to make it happen, e.g. OpenGL, SDL, whatever - and then make sure that the hardware runs out of the box. Need to get NDA's from NVidia? Fine - just make sure that it works with your product. Give people the platform, and good things will happen. The platform isn't just linux, and it's not just hardware, either.
That's why all these Amiga resurrections fail. They miss the point of what made the Amiga grand. Does anyone else remember Digi-Paint? The product that bragged about the engineers spending months hacking a pure assembly paint package? That thing was FAST. And it had a spirit to it, too. (*Grin* all those ads with Kiki.. I wonder what Newtek is doing these days..)
My $0.02cdn.
..don't panic
Come on guys...
April Fools Day is over. Enough with the impossible stories; I mean who would believe that Amiga was making a comeback really?
-pos
The truth is more important than the facts.
The truth is more important than the facts.
-Frank Lloyd Wright
I think what is added is that its an environment that contains a VERY good Java VM, along with several other features such as ease of multiplatform development for things that are cumbersome in Java, and rather than attempt to write their own VM etc. they have decided its simpler to use the Amiga one.
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
This is a serious question and not flamebait.
I just can't figure out what AmigaOS adds to a system. It runs on most OSs, which will provide process, thread and other system functionality. The Java VM provides the cross plateform capabilities. So just what does the AmigaOS provide for a program compiled to java that you don't get with just a good Java VM.
Can anyone enlighten me?
Paul Leader
Well, I own the Amiga SDK and so I can honestly say that I've seen it doing some really cool things running on top of X on top of Debian which I haven't seen plain ol' X on top of Debian doing before. I suggest you look at the IBM articles for some information. Google "Amiga SDK IBM" and feel lucky.
One of the Amiga's driving factors that kept it alive through the 90's despite a complete lack of support was its incredible multimedia capabilities.
If all hangs on this statement: "Amiga based applications can run unchanged on x86, PowerPC, M Core, ARM, StrongARM, MIPS R3000, R4000, R5000, SH 3, SH4, and NEC V850 processors. The Amiga OS can run hosted on Linux, Embedded Linux, Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, CE and QNX4."
If this is true, it will help eliminate the last reason I have to use Win32 over Linux for multimedia and graphics. I truly beleive that Amiga will score mulitimedia apps like BeOS and Linux just haven't managed to do up until now.
Here's to hope...
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
It was fun; it was a great computer, but like the rest of the 80's, I think the party is over.
Isn't time to move on? Promote BeOS, or GNU/Linux/GNOME/whatever_desktop instead.