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Concept Screenshots Of The AmigaDE GUI

Mike Bouma writes: "Check out this posting by Amiga`s CTO on the AmigaOne Mailing list. It includes some concept pictures of a GUI for the Amiga Digital Environment, which is being targetted at AmigaDE enabled handheld devices like Sharp`s upcoming Zaurus PDA. Some of the younger Slashdot readers may not be familiar with the classic AmigaOS, however interested people can (re)discover the AmigaOS through emulation, I suggest to check out this easy to setup "Amiga in a box" package."

7 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. more pictures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4

    you can see more pictures of the new GUI on: http://www.aug99.com/exclusiv/guiamigaos.html

  2. This is sad. by jd · · Score: 4
    I mean it. There is a plethora of OS' at the moment, any one of which -could- be easily either used as-is, or extended to suit the purpose of the Amiga.

    Let's see... there are:

    • Linux (and RT-Linux, L4-Linux, MkLinux, MOSIX, SE-Linux, etc)
    • The multitude of BSD's (OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, SecureBSD, TrustedBSD)
    • QNX
    • Roadrunner
    • MIT's Exokernel
    • The L4 microkernel
    • The Mach microkernel
    • BeOS
    • The OSKit development kit
    • The ANTS distributed OS

    The idea of writing a whole new OS, unless something new, some new itch has been found that just needs to be scratched, seems somehow crazy.

    (Now, the SIMTICS idea that I'm working on is at least half-way sane. I'm merging two existing concepts to produce something that is - in theory - better than either could be, alone. I'm still not writing a "new" OS, though. There's no delving into re-inventing the wheel. The wheels I can use are already more than sufficient for any need I may have.)

    Worse, the idea of exploiting the name of a very good system (for the time) in an effort to promote this new product is marketting abuse at its very worst.

    (Now, if they were to derive some/all of their concepts from the original Amiga, or follow the Amiga philosophy in some significant way, then it could be justified. I've seen nothing to suggest that.)

    As far as I can tell, this is a *One company that will happily seduce the populace, before collapsing under mysterious circumstances.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  3. Re:Amiga is not a horse and is not dead by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 3

    Several major companies, including Disney, still use Amigas regularly to create effects.

    No they don't. See, I can match you one for one with worthless anecdotes, let's try it again:

    Almost every TV station in the world uses Amigas.

    Nope, wrong-o. Lemme try something new: this time I get to make up the "phacts".

    The last TV station to use an Amiga switched over to an Avid 4 years ago.

    Hey, I see why you do that, it was SOOOO easy!
    Now for some good 'ol derision of your "phun phacts":

    NASA has been known to use Amigas and claim that Amigas are (still) the most versatile machines around.

    Yeah, they use them for doorstops and as reaction mass for extra-atmospheric maneuvering. I think that Mars probe that smashed into the surface was powered by an Amiga reaction mass engine. Apparently they don't even function well in that capacity...

    ;P

    --
    by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
  4. Other than zealotry, why bother with an Amiga? by Bowie+J.+Poag · · Score: 3



    Allright..There's something i've been meaning to ask here. The biggest question that haunts the whole Amiga picture is: why bother .

    For the late 80's/early 90's, nobody disputes that the Amiga was king of the hill when it came to multimedia apps. But by today's standards, its really nothing to bark about. With every Amiga, you got 22 Khz stereo sound (about half the sample quality of a $5 audio card you can buy for any PC these days), and an 8-bit display capable of resolutions considered low-to-average in today's PC market, looking past graphics mode hacks unsuitable for GUIs like HAM. 24-bit displays on Amiga systems are basically RTG kludges that sit ontop of an already overburdoned planar display. Again, in terms of capability and performance, it's beaten by even the lowest of low-end video cards for PCs.

    Next virtue...Small footprint. Sure, you can boot the OS off a single floppy, and it has a remarkably small footprint for an OS with those sorts of capabilities... But so what, so does Linux, so does QNX and others. Why bother with the Amiga?

    When I was younger, I never thought i'd see the day when the Amiga's capabilities were surpassed by a platform as braindead as the PC, but it's happened, and happened a long time ago. I owned one for like 9 years, and I agree, it was a good machine..I just don't see the reason why anyone should really bother with AmigaOS other than pure religious zealotry or novelty.

    --
    Bowie J. Poag

  5. Re:Amiga?? by donglekey · · Score: 4

    You are wrong for many different reasons. If Amiga is dead, then how could I have cut a commercial with one yesterday? If its dead then how come my work has two, my school has one, and the local university has a whole lab of them. Amiga is dying, no doubt about it. But the video toaster and flyer were/are such incredible products that they have prolonged amiga's death for ages. Is anyone buying Amiga's? I hope not, that would be pretty silly, but Amiga is not dead, it is just taking a long time to kick off because of the video toaster and flyer. Now that they have come to NT and have been there for a while, people are starting to migrate over when they have the money.

  6. Damned Workbench disk by oingoboingo · · Score: 3

    I tried out the palm-top version of the AmigaOS a few days ago, only to be frustrated at boot time by a chunky, low-res image of a hand holding a Workbench floppy disk. Palmtops don't have floppy drives!! Until this is fixed, I don't see much future for AmigaOS on hand held platforms.

  7. There is room for all by wolfywolfbitz · · Score: 3

    I am not an amiga user and don't know if I every will be...

    But I don't think that lampooning amigans with "It's dead let it go" everytime /. has an article about amiga is that helpful to anyone. (not to mention quite boring)

    They aren't saying that we all have to run out and buy an amiga now. It's just an interesting news item about an alternative OS... what's so wrong with that? if your not interested then don't worry about it, if you are then it's nice to get some up to date information on it.

    I personally think it looks interesting, I don't know if it'll take off, but I think it could work if given a chance.