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MorphOS 3.0 Released: Refusing To Let the PPC Desktop OS Die Gracefully

Posted by timothy on from the ultimate-nagware dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Version 3.0 of MorphOS has been released. It's the independent PPC OS designed for outdated Apple systems like G4 PowerBooks (5,6; 5,7; 5,8; or 5,9) and eMacs (1.25 GHz/1.42 GHz) and PPC Mac Minis, and some G4 PowerMac models (depends on graphics hardware). It further runs on discontinued and niche Genesi desktop systems (Pegasos) and the stunted 128-megabyte-of-RAM tiny Efika. MorphOS is a nice-looking, low-resource, and nimble OS that can't match the capabilities of current Windows, Mac, and Linux. Its installation/live CD is free without caveat, and runs for 30 minutes at a time, as many times as you like. You may purchase MorphOS to remove the time limit. A particular weakness of MorphOS is its lack of support for wireless networking."

4 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. They seem to use that word a lot. by mwvdlee · · Score: 5, Interesting

    free without caveat, and runs for 30 minutes at a time

    Either "free without caveat" or "runs for 30 minutes at a time" does not mean what I think it means.

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  2. Re:Another weakness by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just for reader enjoyment, prices range from 49€ (Efika) to 111.11€ for PowerPC. That seems like a lot for an OS that can't even do wireless.

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  3. Re:Another weakness by dreamchaser · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "That can't even do wireless" is a dubious way of assessing its worth.

    If most PPC systems still in use are desktops with no WiFi, it might simply not be worth porting a wireless stack for the few laptops or wireless-connected desktops that might buy it, but the rest of the system might be rock-solid. Or it might not -- lack of WiFi doesn't really say anything about it.

    Bullshit. It says it isn't ready to be sold for money. There is nothing dubious about that assessment. It means it is not complete and should not cost anything if they want to use people as beta testers. Hell, I have an old G4 tower that I connect via wireless. I'll bet a lot of people do the same. You're either astroturfing for them or just trolling.

  4. Re:Another weakness by dreamchaser · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yep. It's as I thought. Troll. I never said I need wifi, I said I expected it as a feature of any OS that costs money. I use it on the old G4 out of convenience. Most of my boxen are connected via gig-ethernet. A very subtle troll though, so hats off to you for that.

    Your attempt at using windows from bygone years as an example was weak though. This is 2012. Any OS that costs money should have wifi support. If it is beta that's fine. They shouldn't be charging for it then.