Amiga Sells AmigaOS 422
rocketjam writes "Amiga, Inc. announced today that it has sold the Amiga Operating System to KMOS, Inc., a corporation which 'develops and distributes enabling technology.' The deal included 'all of Amiga's right, title, source code, and all versions, from the "Classic Amiga Operating System" through AmigaOS 4.0 and all subsequent versions.' A spokesman said the sale would have no adverse affect on the release of a consumer version of AmigaOS 4.0 later this year. Amiga said it made the move in order to focus on the growing mobile market. The long saga of AmigaOS 4.0 continues."
Reader Da writes "there're always other options should the Amiga curse continue. Also mentioned on OSNews."
Aaah... Amiga... (Score:5, Funny)
This being said, I do think we'll see another Amiga platform in the future... Just in time for that new version of Duke 'Nukem to be ported to it... =(
Re:Aaah... Amiga... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Aaah... Amiga... (Score:2, Interesting)
Realtime mix stuff you know...
Also remember the Newtek (if I remember right) "abusing" the machines backmasking(?) to open hundreds of lines of ham screens and show 4096 colours at hi res (not ham) mode...
Re:Aaah... Amiga... (Score:3, Interesting)
If the poster had been around at the time, they would clearly remember the amiga A500, at a stonking 4.7mhz, running on a TV that would shit all over any PC at that time. Start looking at the A1500s and A3000s, PCs took a while to catch up.
Of course the PC's at that time were 286's and earlier, but I still remember laughing at my cousin for spending 5x as much on a PC that went 5x as slow and had a crappy desktop OS that looked about
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Aaah... Amiga... (Score:5, Informative)
So PC focused? near as i'm aware they only released an xt, an AT, perhaps a 386sx or so. I still own a commodore b&w vga monitor that I bought from the only amiga shop in town. I guess I honestly don't have any details as to how much in the way of resources they put into the project. Were they like gateway and dell selling getting cheep pre-exising motherboards or did they go full swing and try to make an ibm compatable from the ground up.
I think the usual complaint I find easier to believe was marketing. Right about that time period, web-tv style devices were getting into vogue. Commodore had their CD32 system I believe it was called. Even a 68020 would make a decent internet terminal, and all the software to do it was freeware at the time. And what better way to sell your higher end machines then selling a base model game machine / internet terminal, well assuming they even thought to make one net ready.
Another drawback was the fact that microsoft gave away much in the way of development kits upon request, where commodore would charge you lots of moolah for the same damed thing. Say what you will about microsoft, but I found commodore as a company to be a bigger bastard tward those who wished to actually support the platform where microsoft seemed to actually WANT people to write for it. Commodore seemed to communicate the attitude it was a privliage to write for the Amiga.
But the primary power PC application between 1985 - 1990 was word processing. Not to dismiss the video toaster or other newtek products, nor postscript support. Mac and PC had word perfect, and they both had word. I forget what the last program I used on the amiga with my apple laserwriter, but while I could get 3rd party applications to create bitmaps to import into my word processing app on the amiga, it was a hell of alot less painful to use objects in word. Hell, most people would have prefer the lisa to get pie charts in their documents.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Aaah... Amiga... (Score:3, Informative)
Not as bad as Atari's attempt to enter into the VME market.
Commodore ploughed absurd sums of money into a PC division which, as you say, launched pretty laughable systems. It believed that proprietary systems such as the Amiga only had a finite lifetime after which only PC clones would be taken seriously
Which in reality, one reaso
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
The hardware is what counted (Score:3, Interesting)
Each respective OS was nice in its own way ( personalites were different ), but were eventually surpassed, just as the hardware was.
However the requirments for the OS/apps also increased, almost negating the advances in hardware.
Its sad to see how little we have advanced over the years.. when you look back at what we did with so much 'less'.
I myself keep an old ST around just to show the 'kids' how things used t
Re:20 years later and still arguing :( (Score:4, Informative)
I had never played with a properly multitasking OS, and I was amazed to find that I could pull down the application window and find the desktop sitting there underneath. The Amiga had better graphics, better sound, and a real OS.
Little touches on the Amiga Workbench made it a joy to use: it tracked which disks I had inserted and put icons for them on the desktop, and told me when to swap, by name (the ST GEM had a kludgy 'please insert disk B into drive A' system); applications had proper icons (the ST had a bizarre icon for all apps that looks strangely like a Sinclair Microdrive cartridge). The only plus for the ST was the built-in PSU and midi ports.
I remember going to use my parents STE after a few months with my Amiga and realising how far behind it was.
Re:Aaah... Amiga... (Score:3, Interesting)
No curse (Score:4, Interesting)
I was never wowed by all the fancy multimedia hardware -- not my interest -- but I remember being wowed by the fundamental platform, which did seem to be a lot more advanced than MS-DOS or MacOS. I came from a Unix background, and I considered true pre-emptive multitasking (as opposed to bogus "voluntary" multitasking) to be a fundamental OS feature. It would be a very long time before Microsoft or Apple offered this feature. AmigaOS offered it from day one. And on cheap hardware! It was obvious to me that apps written to the Amiga API would be drastically more stable and robust than similar apps on competing platforms.
So why didn't Amiga succeed? Not a curse, not bad luck. They were just late to the party. In 1985, computers that an ordinary person could afford to own had been around for almost a decade, and the novelty had worn off. It was just a couple years too late to introduce a new platform and expect it to succeed on technical brilliance alone. In order to survive, the Amiga needed to acquire a critical mass of users that would keep the platform healthy. And quickly, because an industry shakeout was imminent. I'm pretty sure the people who created the Amiga didn't understand this. But even if they did understand, they didn't really have enough time to pull this off.
In 1986, my brother-in-law asked for advice on buying his first computer. I strongly recommended the Amiga, mainly because it had MIDI hardware that he needed, and that he'd have to pay extra for on any other system. But despite the extra cost, he got a Mac. Why? All his friends and colleagues had Macs. His publisher used Macs, and if he didn't get one, he'd have a hard time sharing files with them.
By 1986, the user base Amiga needed was already committed to other platforms.
Clear Demand? Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Who was the "clear demand" from? The hardcore fans or the public?
I remember that, by the start of 1993, *before* C= (Commodore.. I'd almost forgotten that pictogram) went bankrupt, the focus had shifted to the PC. People at my school were exchanging PC games, not Amiga ones.
Well, I'm no Amiga expert, but it seems that if C= had come up with something like the A1200 circa mid-1990, they might have stood a better chance. The momentum towards the PC was already significant by the time the A1200 was announced, and good though it was, I don't think it was revolutionary enough to make people change their minds back.
I don't understand what they were playing at with the moronic A600. The A500 Plus had pretty much the same OS, and although the A600 had a better spec in some ways, it was also *worse* than the (essentially) 5-year old A500 in certain respects, so was no better on balance, but couldn't use half the A500 peripherals.
In short, in a Red-Queen world where you have to keep moving forward, the A600 was a step backwards, and a pointless diversion from the A1200 6 months later.
They should also have included the A1200 technology in the CDTV (Amiga-based rival to Philip's CDi)... but would that have justified UKP 500 (US$750 or so at the time)? No.
So, was there really a massive demand for Amigas when C= went bankrupt? I'm not convinced. I saw the light when Escom wanted to charge *more* for the new A1200s (same spec as the year before). *No-one* was going to pay that for an aging machine in 1995 except the core fans.
If whoever owns the Amiga rights comes up with something cool, then good luck to them, but I'll judge it on the basis of something new.
there's always AROS (Score:3, Informative)
Re:there's always AROS (Score:3, Funny)
Re:there's always AROS (Score:2)
"Classic Amiga Operating System" : CAOS!
A propos?
Re:there's always AROS (Score:3, Informative)
Re:there's always AROS (Score:3, Interesting)
Dawn of the Dead (Score:3, Funny)
and this happens at the same time as "Dawn of the Dead" released in theaters? Coincidence?
Let...it...die...peacefully... (Score:3, Insightful)
But their day is gone. The Amiga was great in it's day because it did some things no other computer could do at the time, but not anymore. Some people, a VERY small number of people, are trying in vain to hang on to this platform. You just have to know when to let go. You have to know to say goodbye.
Let the Amiga go...let it fade into computer history. It's
Re:Let...it...die...peacefully... (Score:4, Funny)
They can have my A4000 keyboard, when they pry it from my cold dead hands.
(With apologies to gun toting red necks everywhere)
Re:Let...it...die...peacefully... (Score:3, Funny)
In reality, that happened years ago. However, there are people out there who believe that the Amiga is still alive and working in a supermarket in Albuquerque.
Re:Let...it...die...peacefully... (Score:3, Insightful)
This doesn't make sense. If no one is using it, then it will die naturally. If people are using it, then there is still interest and it shouldn't die. Telling ppl to "let it go" doesn't make sense - who are you to dictate what computers other people should use?
If the above was posted to any other article (eg, saying that people should let Mac die rather than ressurecting it with OS X, or saying
Which OS has pull down screens like the Amiga? (Score:2)
I used to love that feature. Pull down a low res screen and there's a high res screen hiding behind it. In some ways it was easier to use than these multi-desktop managers in that you could swicth to different resolution screens for doing different tasks. Does any OS have that?
Re:Which OS has pull down screens like the Amiga? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Dawn of the Dead (Score:4, Insightful)
It's like fond childhood memories brought to life, though you know it isnt right: it'll never be the same. Yesterdays Amiga is a thing of the past - a fond memory. Perhaps it's just because I dont believe in the concept. Am I resisting a future platform move? I cant tell
Re:Dawn of the Dead (Score:2, Funny)
Just wait... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just wait... (Score:5, Funny)
"classis amigaos" (Score:3, Interesting)
UAE would benefit from being able to ship the roms with it.
Re:"classis amigaos" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Nope. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Nope. (Score:3, Insightful)
Even with new owners... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:4, Interesting)
In any case, though, I think it's very sad to think that Windows _or_ Unix is the peak of OS evolution. Speaking personally, I'd rather deal with _neither_. AmigaOS has features that I miss to this day and neither OS seems to be growing in a direction that makes me think I'll get them back any time soon. BeOS, Plan 9, Smalltalk, Oberon, AmigaOS, Neutrino - all interesting platforms that have things to teach us and move things forwards.
My strong suspicion is that nothing will happen in the consumer market and that this is the final nail in an already pretty solid coffin. I hope I'm wrong, though, because there are so many nice things that can be done with OSs that aren't being served by current trends and look extremely unlikely to ever be so served.
Oh well. If anyone knows where I can get voodoo dolls for Irving Gould or Medhi Ali....
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:4, Informative)
Can't remember datatypes at all (well, I can remember there being 'datatypes' but that's all), guess I could go dig out my manuals and remind myself but I wont. I'l give the benefit of the doubt on this.
Arexx, well, yes, that is one thing that was usefull, not in the language itself (I only dabbled in arexx, I don't remember it being hot as a language) but in the ubiquity of being able to connect to an apps arexx 'port' to automate things (inter process communication). That was handy on many occasions and all the half decent apps supported it. I guess there is a loose analagy in communicating through unix/ip ports nowadays, but I don't think it's really as tight as the AREXX ports system, and certainly not a common thing in applications. So I'll give you 1/2 a mark for that one.
dCop/dBus (Score:3, Insightful)
KDE has dCop, which nearly all apps support. dBus is coming along that GNOME is likely to support (I think they have their own version already COBRA or something?) Combine that with scripting language of your choice (python has KDE bindings so that might be easiest) and you have must the same thing. There is even a REXX port for Unix somewhere if you like REXX.
Mind I've never used an Amiga so I'm not sure if they are used the same, but they could be.
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:5, Informative)
No, no. Quite different to symlinks, but can be used in a similar fashion, sort of. Devices on the system have a device name and (for drives) a volume name. The device can be accessed using by using either name, followed by a colon. If you accessed a device that didn't exist, a requester would pop-up asking you to insert that volume in any drive. In this way you could name floppies/CDs/whatever and access files across the system using the volume name, causing it to ask you for the relevant disc/disk when necessary.
An assign is like a virtual volume name. You could assign a name to a folder (or drive, or device), and access that folder through its assign name followed by a colon. If your program accessed everything through the assign, and it hadn't been assigned, it would ask you to insert the volume (as the name might be a removable drive). So you could copy all of your floppies to your hard drive, and assign their volume names to the same folder. They would then be accessed transparently. The system doesn't actually care where the file is, as long as it finds it via <drive/volume/assign>:<path>/<filename>
Another good thing is that if it couldn't find a volume, it would pop-up the requester asking for it, at which point you could open a shell and assign that name to a folder containing the file you wanted, then hit retry. It would carry on as if nothing happened.
There were other uses you could put them to, but the above example is the most common use.Assigns fit into the overall design of the system very well. I do miss them a lot.
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:4, Informative)
Sure you do, you just don't remember them being called that. Let's say you downloaded a GIF file that had no file extension. Workbench would recognize what the file was & open it, instead of the stupid three-letter filename extensions. It did not rely on a filename to determine an appropriate program to use. You could even open a file called "jumper.txt," and if it was really a GIF, it would still open it in the right program to view the image.
That and the pull-down screens (the RAM disk was pretty cool too) were the two primary things that I loved & Windows cannot do.
DefIcons, not datatypes. (Score:3, Informative)
DefIcons would, as you say, recognize file types without relying on filename extentions, and open the correct program for the file. (If you hadn't done some daft reconfiguring opening text files in DPaint.)
DefIcons was, from AmigaOS3.5 included in the OS.
Datatypes are really an easy way for programs to access files of different types.
Let's say I'm writing an image program and the user opens file xyz.
The filetype of
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:2)
But I'd have to give the real nod to arexx. That was, even with its warts (and it had a few), the damndest language ever for a budding programmer to cut his teeth on, making it possible for the likes of Jim and I to write a real cron (EzCron) and a home automation program called EzHome.
Sadly a drive crash took most of the sources years ago, but I'd really like to do an EzCron for linux some day and see how long it wou
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:5, Informative)
And I'll bite back:
- Datatypes (OS standard way of loading files in any format): From a user point of view, you can add support for a new file format to all your programs by installing a small file. From a developer point of view, you can add support for all OS supported file formats just by using this functionality. On Windows, I having to code support for simple things like BMP/PCX myself, or rely on 3rd party libraries (which means abiding by their licence, and supplying large DLLs with my programs).
- Decent GUI toolkit in the form of MUI (yes, it wasn't OS standard, but until MUI is ported elsewhere, it's exclusive to AmigaOS - though I have a feeling that the OS standard Reaction toolkit seems to work similarly): This is programming GUIs the way it should be - just say you want, eg, three objects in a row, and let the toolkit worrying about resizing; it's actually easier than programming with so-called "visual" editors, and has the advantage that windows/GUIs are always automatically resizable, so you don't have to worry about that (similarly you don't have to worry about things like changing font sizes). It's ridiculous that some GUIs are still written with hardcoded x/y coordinates.
- A side benefit of having decent GUI toolkits (MUI and others) for the user is that it's very common that windows are resizable as standard, and the contents resize to fit. There's nothing more enfuriating to see a tiny window on Windows with a small textbox or whatever inside, and I can't resize if (or instead, I can resize it, but the contents don't enlarge!)
- Assigns: Shortcuts basically. Windows only gets halfway with its shortcut - I can't include the shortcut in a filename, I can only use the shortcut on its own (eg, c:\shortcut\dir_inside_shortcut) - was this fixed in XP?
- ARexx: OS standard scripting language. It wasn't anything special in itself, but it was OS standard, so commonly supported by most applications. Which means you don't have to learn different scripting languages to support different applications.
- Screens: Multiple workspaces, done dynamically. Why do OSes like BeOS (and Linux window managers?) bother to implement workspaces, but then only stick with a fixed number?
Just a few off the top of my head. Also there are things which aren't exclusive to AmigaOS, but are still improvements over Windows (and since I use Windows, it still counts as features that one might miss):
- Doesn't make GUI mistakes that Windows does: It's much quicker to find menus at the top of the screen, and using the right mouse button means you can select (or unselect) multiple options with the left button, without opening the menu several times.
- Decent command line interface: I don't mean the commands/syntax, but things like being able to resize it, having a non-fixed number of lines (I can't believe I'm still having to tell Windows how many lines I want by buffer to be - did they fix this in XP?)
And not quite an OS feature, but I still miss the email client YAM.
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:2)
FWIW, Window Maker lets you have an arbitrary number.
XPK (Score:4, Interesting)
Another thing, similar in some ways to Datatypes, that I liked on the Amiga, was the XPK library: A (defacto) standard way of handling compression and symmetric encryption. Write an XPK plugin thingie (I forget what they were called) for AES crypto or some new compression algorithm, and dozens of programs retroactively/magically got the ability to use it, just like with Datatypes.
Some clock-cycle-counting uber-hacker writes a DES that is 10% faster? All your software get to take advantage.
That is the way software components should be integrated! Very good design.
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:4, Informative)
Dynamic RAM disk: Just stick whatever you wanted into RAM: and as long as you had memory, it was resized whenever it was needed...
Recoverable RAM Disk (RAD): A RAM disk that could survive a reboot...also could be made bootable...
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:4, Interesting)
Arexx. A monkey with not much more programming knowledge than basic could use it to script various core functions of running applications together. A lot of applications were supporting Arexx and it was fun to write batch scripts that affected programs that also had a GUI frontend.
I also liked how the filesystem worked. I could do an "assign MUSIC: dh0:media/sounds/music" and then during the remainder of my boot session, I could just type MUSIC: to instantly shortcut to that directory. There were a lot of nice standard assigns too, like C: for your command line programs, LIBS: for your DLLs, S: for your config files, etc. You could create a device driver which mounted new "drives" on your system. One of my favorites was TCP:, which let me open a connection and read/write data to it like a file (I did this often in arexx).
I also miss the "demos". Sure, we have demos on the PC now, but one of the advantages of having a fairly standard hardware chipset was that people could make some assumptions in their code and take advantage of them to push some impressive effects.
What don't I miss?
I don't miss the flicker =P And 24-bit color is nice. I know there were peripherals to remedy both of these, but they were expensive, and by the time I could afford them, my work required me to move on to the wintel architecture.
I just think Commodore should have hired Eric Schwartz to make Amy the Squirrel the Amiga mascot; maybe that would have increased sales =P
Re:Even with new owners... (Score:3, Interesting)
GEM os seems to have something resembling a nitch market. I would think that AmigaOS wins out over other choices because of it's very small CPU and memory requirements. As a desktop machine, I'll agree it's crowded, but as a handheld device it would hold some promise.
Most sold technology EVAR (Score:5, Interesting)
I spent the 90's and early this century waiting for AOS4 but every time I go to their website I see "coming soon" banners. The last time http://os.amiga.com/os4/ was changed was Oct 15, 2003. I'll keep looking, but in the meantime the best way I'm able to use AmigaOS is via emulation.
New Amiga OS (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Offtopic? (Score:2)
Prediction (Score:3, Funny)
The AMIGA's Real Legacy..... (Score:3, Insightful)
Many people in the Open Source/LINUX/BSD community came out of the Amiga world. Learned their programming skills and attitudes from hacking the Amiga. I'm sure what those people learned have had an effect on the LINUX and BSD worlds. And of course there is one important person we should never forget who was a fan/programmer of the Amiga...
Linus Torvalds
Would LINUX exist or how would it of evolved differently if Linus had learned to program on DOS or a Mac?
Re:The AMIGA's Real Legacy..... (Score:3, Interesting)
Even now, I still occasionally code in exactly the same way as I did back then, mainly because it works so well.
I still have 3 Amigas, but sadly don't have time (or room) to use them
Re:The AMIGA's Real Legacy..... (Score:5, Informative)
Kernel guru Alan Cox is a former Amiga hacker however...
Re:The AMIGA's Real Legacy..... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:OK, Now I AM worried (Score:2)
And so it goes... (Score:2, Funny)
I still have Amigas and use WinUAE. I look forward to OS4 coming out. And I plan on buying the new mobo too. The fact that Amiga IP has changed hands more times then someone with OCD changes their underwear, doesn't bother me in the least. I have faith and that's all I need. IMHO, many skeptics will be proven wrong.
Incredible isn't it? (Score:5, Interesting)
It all gets even more interesting here... (Score:2, Interesting)
Scroll down to the bottom and check out some of the stuff dated March 15/04.
Somebody wanted the OS (not the HARDWARE!) real bad already, and it looks as if that isn't going to happen as he envisioned it.
No way to run a business (Score:5, Interesting)
There doesn't seem to be a business plan or strategy in place here - just knee jerk reactions to what is perceived as currently profitable, or upswinging markets.
It's sad, but Amiga has been kicked to death by a bunch of inept owners...
Re:No way to run a business (Score:2)
Come on guys (Score:4, Insightful)
Not again! (Score:2, Funny)
Why let it die? (Score:5, Insightful)
I love using it, I love developing for it, and it doesn't bother me that I can't play the latest games. I use it for the internet (web, irc, email, msn, web development, etc. etc.), programming, music composition, graphics, all sorts, and i'm not alone.
If we want to use AmigaOS, how does that hurt you? If companies want to invest in it, its their money not yours. If anything else, it provides an interesting soap opera.
I'm one of the beta testers of the new version, and I for one am happy that my OS of choice is undergoing continued development by a small, but highly skilled team.
Has anybody checked........ (Score:5, Funny)
Late 80's to early 90's... good time Amiga users (Score:4, Insightful)
Sigh...
The better technology doesn't always win in the end.
-S
Does this mean that (Score:2)
I never had an Amiga; did have a ZX Spectrum though - with its tape-drive and joystick...
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I've Not Understood The Amiga Strategy For Year (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I've Not Understood The Amiga Strategy For Year (Score:2)
The good old days... still! (Score:4, Interesting)
What ticks me off is that all these companies that buy Amiga IP simply don't have a clue what to do with it. Yes, Gateway had it for a while (my guess is they wanted an easy "home multimedia center", but couldn't get their heads outta their as^H^H Windows), but dropped the boing ball.
This was the same mentality that Sierra had. They were so used to doing things the DOS way, that the total concept of multi-tasking escaped them. Amigans stopped buying their games, and Sierra (instead of learning how to program) dropped Amiga titles. Many others followed suit. I found lots of brilliant UK and European programmers as a result, though.
Believe it or not, I rarely play games (even Bill Gates refered to Amigas as "just a game machine"). I have still to find a program that does what Softlogik's PageStream does (for the money). Until I do, my A4K is still a fast and fun platform, 11 years old and aging well...
A4000 040/25 24MBram 2.5GBhd OS3.9 iBrowse YAM
A2000 030/25 9MBram 540MBhd OS3.1
3-A500s, 2-A1000s, 1-A600, 1-CDTV
(Don't get me started on the 8-bitters!)
Re:The good old days... still! (Score:2)
Something from the rumor tree... my vague memory seems to recall the fact that the amiga approach to desktop and windows was actually their IP that they fought for and won in court. I don't know if this applies to the auto hiding [file] bar, or the pull down shade windows when operating something in a diffrent graphic mode. I could be wrong, it's not like I actually *read* any of their court docu
Between the lines (Score:4, Insightful)
The same "later this year" Amiga OS 4 has been due out is since 2000.
Sounds bad to me (Score:2)
Only more delays, excuses, no-shows.... sad
(I'm an Amiga user since 1990, I might add)
The deal is already one year old! (Score:5, Informative)
This deal has already happend in April 2003!
Great information politics, Amiga Inc...!
Their only capital is the trust of some spirited, hard core nostalgians. These politics trash this completely..
rpp3po
Remember we joked with Apple, Amiga people? (Score:3, Interesting)
It was real hard to use it though, especially near impossible for warez people. Needed Apple disk drive and Apple rom chips.
I now own an Apple G5 and using OS X, with 768mb ram... Guess what? Sometimes a question pops into my mind, what would happen if Amiga Inc. was well and alive (speaking about days they ship 1200,4000 etc) with THIS kind of cpu, hardware?
I bet we would be still joking
Re:Remember we joked with Apple, Amiga people? (Score:3, Informative)
That's because the woz thought it was a good idea to use a tape drive controler on the floppy disk drive. Actually i'm sure circa 1970s this was a cost effective means of actually getting disc storage, so I excuse him for this faux paux. What annoyed me was the simple fact that once disc drive controlers lowered in price they never bothered to upgrade the apple
Does this mean.. (Score:2)
That the true blue amiga zelots will actually give me a copy of workbench 3.x without giving me the speach that piracy will kill any chance amiga has for a comeback?
I miss the Amiga 500 Robocop game (Score:2)
Amiga Curse == Idiots in charge (Score:2)
The real reason for the sale (Score:2)
Stupid Clones... (Score:2)
Tom: Oh! Hahaha! Amiga!! Ha hah!
Crow: Amiga? Oh come on!
Both (hails of derisive laughter): Hahahaha!!
Tom: Now THERE'S a machine for you...Hahah!
Crow: Hey! Has anyone seen my FAT ANGUS drive?? Hahah!
Joel: We'll be back.
Magic Voice: Commercial sign in five...four...three...two...commercial sign now!
Tom: 'Unrecoverable appilication error'?! This is really cute, Crow! I su
the plan... (Score:2)
Time to retire the Amiga name (Score:2)
If the people involved in all of this have passion and drive and a burning desire to innovate, then by all means do so! The world n
I just built a 68060 Amiga 1200 tower, so... (pix) (Score:3, Interesting)
Pix:
- inside, well lit [hubbuddy.com]
- It's alive!! [hubbuddy.com]
- A few stylish ones in an open dir [blakespot.com]
Good stuff...blakespot
Details? (Score:2)
"We made out like frickin' bandits," President Bill McEwen was heard to chuckle as the screen door of his double-wide mobile home slammed shut.
Given how many companies have owned Amiga... (Score:4, Funny)
--AC
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Better to have GPLed it (Score:5, Informative)
As for doing "great things with the OS", while Amiga OS still have some great features, you'd be much better off adding [insert favorite AmigaOS feature here] to existing open source software. The Amiga OS as most of us know it was very intimately tied to an architecture without memory protection for instance, which doesn't really make it easy to bring up to date.
That said, if you want "open source Amiga OS", take a look at AROS. Aaron Digulla and a few other people have done a great job at writing replacements for almost all parts of Amiga OS, and you can run it under Linux (or stand alone if you prefer).
GPL Impossible (Score:3, Informative)
Re:somebody explain the amiga curse? (Score:4, Informative)
In addition to the various owners, there were several 'licensees' announced during the Escom period: a set-top box company (RIP) and a couple of resellers (at least one of which is RIP, I don't know about the others..) who were lined up for new A4000Ts......
In short, the Amiga operating system should probably have been open-sourced yaers ago, so that companies would have had an excuse for not making any money. Heh.
Re:somebody explain the amiga curse? (Score:5, Informative)
No. You must mistake it with Atari. In "Blade Runner", we see many advertisings of companies really existing in the early 1980's, and indeed most of them went into dire troubles in mid and late 1980's. First of all, Coca-Cola entered the whole mess of the "new Coke", that even the company itself calls now "marketing infamy [coca-cola.com]. And that's an euphemism, actually. Then there was Bell (antitrusted just after the theatrical release of Blade Runner), Pan Am and Atari. However, the curse seems now to be extinct. Atari returned now in big style [atari.com], Coca-Cola is no longer in trouble, and even Pan Am returned (in a way) [flypanam.com]. There was also one excemption from this curse - TDK [tdk.com] (a huge TDK advertising is a backrop to the death of Roy Batty in the BR's finale grande).
Re:somebody explain the amiga curse? (Score:3, Funny)
Another company buying the Atari name hardly counts as Atari "returning." (If you believe that, then I can arrange for you to meet with Martin Luther King, Jr. Only $500, plus whatever it costs to get my name changed.)
Re:somebody explain the amiga curse? (Score:2, Informative)
While the identity of a human being is quite well defined by law, corporate identity is more vague. Just by changing your name to Martin Luther King, Jr you cannot claim, say, royalties from the reproduction of his speeches. To the law, you will still be Martin Luther King Jr, formerly know
Re:Mobile ? (Score:2)
Oh shit! (Score:2, Funny)
KMOS
l
Microsoft!
Still, it'd be at least one non-crappy product that they'd own.