AmigaOS4 for Classic - 30th November

[Stephen Coates]

As there are actually versions of OS4 avaliable for Classic and AmigaOne, it was only going to be a matter of time before it gets released as a final product.

I've no idea when we'll be seeing the Dragons though.

[Harrison]

But they have been saying that for a very long time now Steve. Look how long ago the Amiga One was sold with the OS4 beta included. Years ago, and they said the final version would be available soon after that.

I hope it is correct and we see it released in the next few months. But I am sceptical just because of the past.

[Puni/Void]

Just have to add something in the middle of the discussion here. As I've been searching around for hardware to soup up my Amiga, I've noticed that it is too expensive for me. PPC accelerators are currently going for quite a lot of money, and I personally can't justify spending over 300£ on old hardware. Therefore I won't be upgrading my old Amiga to meet the demands of OS4. I will instead wait and see if new hardware will be released in the future. In the meantime I guess things will work out OK with my 030 powered 1200 and WinUAE.

So what do you guys think about the current price situation when it comes to PPC cards for the Amiga? Will you consider spending something like 250-300£ on such hardware?

Also, do you think OS4 will be ported to work with EFIKA or the new SAM? If yes, will any of these be of interest to you?

[Harrison]

If OS4 is ported to run on brand new hardware then yes I would be very interested. But I would not be willing to pay £300 for an old PPC accelerator that probably cost less than that when new and might not even work properly due to age and being second hand.

[Stephen Coates]

I might spend something like that on a PPC if I could afford it, but it does depend on the condition of it.

I would be more interested in newer hardware if it is made avaliable. It would certianly be good if it was ported to the Efika. It looks like a nice little low cost system which would probably run the AmigaOS quite well.

Even if we can't run OS4, the 030 is still a nice fast processor and will be fine with WB3.

What I might see about doing is a tower conversion with PCI and graphics card for my 030 amiga, as apparently, a graphics card will be make a big difference, even with an 030. Then if I decided to get a PPC later, I can.

[Harrison]

A graphics card will indeed make a huge difference in Workbench. A dedicated card means the Amiga doesn't have to use it's own chip ram to hold the screen data and can free that purely for system code. And a graphics card has dedicated on board ram running much faster than the Amiga's own system bus. Definitely one of the best upgrades for anyone using Workbench more than gaming.

[Buleste]

I have to say about 6 months ago i bought a 200Mhz Blizzard PPC card for £340 with 256mb RAM and an 040 on board. While the 040 has increased things nicely the PPC has been a pain. When you get things to run it's great (SimonII is a prime example). However WarpUP and Warp3d are very fickle beasts (I've never been able to get Wipeout2047 to work and some WarpUp stuff just give me enforcer hits). I have a ZIV expansion board with a CV64/3D which i've had for years and a graphics card can be great however only for software that use retargetable graphics. In many ways i wish i'd stuck to my old 030 and spent the money on a PCI board and cheap graphics card but what the hell. I've stuck by my A1200 for too long to give it up now.

Forgot to add. If only i could get SimCity2000 working with CGX i'd be happy.

[Harrison]

Sim City 2000 was definitely one AGA game that benefited from more speed. I used to play it on my A4000 but even then it was quite slow to update when you zoomed in and out of the map.

[Stephen Coates]

Update:

AmigaKit say they expect OS4 will cost £59.99.

Or you can preorder one from someone on ebay for £64.99 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMIGA-OS4-For-...QQcmdZViewItem

(I don't recomend the second option)

[TiredOfLife]

OS4.0 will be released for he A1200 and a Blizzard PPC.
Says that quite clearly on the Hyperion site.
One of the programmers posts on another site and is confident this will happen as planned on the 30/11/2007.
Have arranged to buy a PPC off someone on Ebay, but I haven't heard from him for a few days.
Needless to say I've done everything I need to do, so just waiting on him.
Hope I haven't been scammed but I wouldn't be the 1st on ebay.