@paolone
Quote:

I think there's nothing in the practical world that AmigaOS and derivates "can do better" of any other mainstream OS in the world. And that's not for the operating system itself, but for the software. Do I need to retouch a photo? ...etc. etc. However, there is still something that makes me prefer booting Icaros Desktop on my netbook than the preinstalled Windows XP. It's what I call "feeling at home" and it's something I can't express with words, but it's something that has to do with attitudes and preferences. As like as I may feel more comfortable with dresses A than dresses B, or with car X rather than car Y, having the classic workbench screen and the AROS shell gives me more happiness than Microsoft's windowsland. I like the ability to grab that icon semi-hidden into that backward window and drag it to the one on the top, without looking it disappear just because I clicked the mouse elsewhere. I like Amiga way to handle right clicks. After all that years and operating systems I used, I had not found any better file manager than DirectoryOpus. Not counting the simple fact I can go to the Internet in less than 20 seconds after I pressed the power button, while on the same system Windows+Firefox require more than 90 seconds to do the same. So, it's not matter of who is doing things better, but of what makes you feel better. You may find Windows, Linux, MacOS or even Haiku more useful for your needs, but maybe you can find AmigaOS, MorphOS or AROS more comfortable. That's something that depends only on your needs and attitudes.

What you described above is a perfect example of "feel" and usability choices/features.
And that is a Big part of an OS.
The first part of your message talked about Software, and the latter can appear anywhere at any time, it's made by third parties and nowadays has little to do with the OS itself (with most programs being multi-platform).
MacSoceity asked about the Operating System (a "system that operates something") not whether or not we have this or that software and the Second part of your message was quite spot on.

Talking about software though, I do believe that as long as we have a professional piece that can superbly handle a task (for each and every task you tend to solve on computers) we are good to go.

Since we are still alive and kicking, new software can still come and fill the gaps (examples in my reply below).

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@Yssing

Agree. I didn't even had mouse for my Amiga 1200. My friend put "mouse buttons" under two blank keys on a keyboard and I used Amiga/Amiga+Shift and arrow keys to move around. Loved it.

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@opi

Quote:

I'm pro home made lobotomy.

If that isn't "out of context quote d'or" I don't know what is.

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This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.

@MacSociety
Quote:

I am one of those willing to spend good $, even too much money, on unique things. I guess I see the X1000 as a bit unique even if it is underpowered compared to todays systems. It is a underdog that I hope does well.

Yes I can relate to that. It's cool to be users of this smaller platform that has to gain every new feature with sweat and blood (so much satisfaction when something new gets added ^__^):

To make a few examples (AmigaOS4.x):

Word processing/office today:
we have PageStream (with a fully native 5.x still pending) and ABWord, Gnumeric etc.

Future:
there is OpenOffice Lite coming, and the QT port will probably bring in Koffice too when completed (my guess).

http://qt.nokia.com/qt-in-use/story/app/koffice/

Presentation today: Hollywood 3.0 is probably better than PP. And I can make a presentation on my Sam and send it to a PC user where it will work directly (of course Hollywood does way more than just that).

Future: again, PP compatible presenters are present in both OOL and Koffice (Kpresenter) .

3D/Video Editing: Blender does both very well, and is feature rich (also an excellent video compositor) all we need is a faster machine to use it proficiently (ie:X1000)

WebBrowsing: many are worried about this fact but quite frankly this is the no brainer of the lot.
I don't think flash will survive the HTML5 revolution "as is", and probably all companies will at least provide an alternative version (to flash) along side the flash version.

Moreover Gnash is progressing ( http://savannah.gnu.org/forum/forum.php?forum_id=6483 ) and releasing updates every 6 months. Some have criticized Gnash for not being good enough, but quite frankly, it is a WIP contrary to other solutions. New version after new version it will eventually get somewhere whether detractors like it or not.

And I mange to treat the argument without mentioning FireFox 4.0

Edit: Don't know How i missed that, but also the MorphOS version of OWB is being ported (with the author's help) one more reason to consider the "web" issue as a "non-issue"

MediaPlayers: I must admit I love TuneNet. It plays any music format and handles my NetRadio channels very well (it even uses the OS notification system).
For video we have both DVPlayer and mPlayer. In order to watch super hi-res stuff it's just a matter of processing power (again the X1000 should come to the rescue).

Photo-retouching: in Amigaland we have an OS4 native version of ArtEffect coming (confirmed by Alinea) and of course we can use Gimp.
A notice on the Amicygnix environment here: it has been criticized for not being "amiga" and for forcing you to switch to it's own desktop/screen.
On the first i might say that any professional OS out there (ie:Windows/MacOS) has an xWindows implementation of sort (even if their native software library is more than enough), so I don't think that adding something "MORE" is to be considered as "less".

Secondly you can integrate these apps quite well inside Workbench no need (necessarily) for a dedicated desktop. For those that want to know more about this, please refer to a dedicated tutorial/review on page 29 of AmigaFuture issue:80, but to make a long story short, you will have these apps (such as Gimp) appear in a workbench window alongside all your other programs.
Not only that, you can also launch it from Amidock. (as for performance issues once again the X1000 should solve those as well).
I don't think Gimp misses anything as far as photo re-touching is concerned (specially for home use and besides, there are plenty of manuals about it on Amazon).

Now someone will say: why buy an Amiga for Gimp then, I can have that on Linux!! The problem is actually the other way around, as explained by many here, we want our familiar Amiga environment with all of its much beloved features, and using Gimp doesn't chage that one bit.
Using Linux changes a lot instead, Gimp won't matter than.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is: the OS is still in development (same goes for its variants) new software is coming, new HW is released every year (it has been so, for quite sometime now) so the dream of using an Amiga at home without ever switching on a PC it's not too far fetched.

As long as I can open/modify PC files, enjoy any type of media and solve my computing task in a competent way, I can live my computing life on this beloved platform, without being forced to leave it.

Last edited by DAX on 03-Feb-2011 at 06:58 PM.

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SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@OldFart

Sure..

Mouse movement is handled by holding down either of the "Amiga" keys and pressing the cursor keys on the keyboard. Mouse clicks are handled by holding down either of the "Amiga" keys and pressing the left Alt key (for left-mouse clicking) or the right Alt key (for right-mouse clicking).


I don't know how the same is accomplished in windows or what program I have to install to do it. But its factory standard in amiga.

Last edited by Yssing on 03-Feb-2011 at 11:55 AM.
Last edited by Yssing on 03-Feb-2011 at 11:49 AM.

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@olegil

Ha ha ha.

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@Yssing
Quote:

I don't know how the same is accomplished in windows or what program I have to install to do it. But its factory standard in amiga.

System settings, section for handicapped people (god knows why they stuffed it there). No 3rd party program needed.

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AmigaOS 4.1 FE (sam460ex Radeon 9200 / RadeonHD), MorphOS 3.8 (PowerMac G4 733MHz Radeon 9000), AROS (x86), A1200 (060 80MHz Indivision MK2), A500, A600, CDTV
Wings Remastered Development Diary

@DAX

I think that most people use the computer for fun in the first place which wold be in no particular order:

Games
Watching movies
Listening to music
Browsing the web (including facebook, shopping, watching videoclips etc)
Messenger
E-mail
Skype

That would be what most people does. Then they require some office applications, either for schoolwork or for personal work. For personal work it's often Word that are being used.

And I would say that this is pretty much what most people use their computers for more or less.

Watching at the software side for AOS 4 there are lots of things missing still. Games are there and some of them are good but more and bigger games are offcourse needed. And don't see this happening anytime soon.

Flash... lots of videoclips still requires flash. Hopefully this will change or Gnash will get ported and work ok soon.

Skype... I don't know if it will ever get supported or any other standard like Messenger voice chat. And webcam support would offcourse be a good thing, it has been lacking for far too long.

Printing support. I know that it will come eventually and it's really important.

Other than that I think we are mosty ok.

@Daytona675x

Ahh see that is why I didnt know that, I don't consider myself as a handicapped peron per say. lol

And I have experienced several users getting rather offended, when certain settings in that section had to be applied.

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@Daytona675x

Well, not having batteries in your wireless mouse probably qualifies to some sort of government refund, right? At least a bit of tax deduction. After all, Microsoft claims it is a handicap!

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This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.

I think IF the Amiga did every thing the same as a normal computer
but is more fun to do those tasks with ........ then it does everything better

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@hotrod
There are some departments where it will be difficult to please a user, if for some reason he cannot do away with certain programs.

For example, If you have all your friends on Skype it's hard to ask about adopting a different client, my friends use MSN or have a gmail account (which has integrated chat) so I have no problems fulfilling these communication tasks (still...).

Games I wouldn't worry too much. If you are too "serious" about modern gaming, even having 10 times what we have today, won't make Amiga competitive with PS3 or X360 (nor Windows), something that also Linux and Mac users have to cope with.

That said I must admit I'm an hardcore retrogamer, and I found AmigaOS to be very good at this for one reason: picasso96 native resolutions with real (not simulated) scanlines! ^__^

I wrote a GUIDE about it

Last edited by DAX on 12-Apr-2011 at 10:31 AM.
Last edited by DAX on 03-Feb-2011 at 01:00 PM.

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SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@Panthro

You got it, that is pretty much while I've been using it all those years. But as it is now it needs more software and then it can kick some ass.

@DAX

I remember reading that guide, would be nice to see it for myself . I agree on the retro gaming, I'm glad that runinuae and gluae are available, it works really well integrated in AOS. A better version (faster) of E-UAE would offcourse be good but it works very well.

I don't think that games will come easy but that's one of the things that people use their computers for. When Hyperion ported games and some other companies this need was fullfilled with AOS but there are noone to do this anymore and I hope that it will change. It doesn't matter if it's old since I haven't played many of the good old PC games (been to busy playing Shogo, Payback, Heretic II etc). Also a console and/or PC will solve that so it isn't important in a way but it's allways nice to sit with your favourite OS and launch a game from it. I did enjoy playing Duke3D that I hadn't played through on a PC for example.

Regarding Skype and getting people to install another software... if the software is easy to install and there is a need I think that the people that I know will install it. For those that I know that don't know computers that well I can just install it and instruct them how to do to call me.

I agree with the majority of reasons stated but for me the number one reason is simply because I can.
Being able to enjoy my favourite system today as my main modern pc at home brings me great happiness & I have great respect for the companies/people developing/supporting it.
The fact that companies like ACube and A-Eon are here today in 2011 is truly a testament to the Amiga spirit

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! My Master Miggies- Amiga 1000 & AmigaOne X1000 !
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X1000 I BELIEVE

@hotrod
I would sure love if someone would make "late-ports" as like you I haven't played a ton of great games.

As for my emulation settings I always try to convince people to get a CRT monitor for this stuff, but people seems to have the LCD bug O_o

I suggest a dual monitor configuration with old games all directed to a CRT monitor (the smaller the better, less space authentic looking graphics) while the moderns stuff (including the OS of course) directed to a nice LCD.

Anyway I took some pictures a moment ago just to give you a glimpse (forgive the bad quality, taking pictures of a CRT is quite "hellish" O_o):

Playing Metal Slug X on gNgeo:


Playing Disposable Heroes with RunInUae:


Playing Ruff'n'Tumble with RunInUae:


All running on SamFlex at native resolution with no scaling and no filters of any kind. (perfect framerate with no screen tearing and perfect sound too).

Last edited by DAX on 03-Feb-2011 at 07:03 PM.

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SamFlex Complete 800Mhz System + AmigaOS 4.1 Update 4
Amiga 2000 DKB 2MB ChipRam GVP G-Force040 Picasso 2 OS3.9 BB2
AmigaCD 32

@amigang

Quote:

Direct access to ram disk (although you can set this up in other OS)

that was a godsend back int the old days on my a500. i had too many enhancements to fit on one floppy so i would create a ramdrive, copy the contents of the start disk, then boot with the ramdrive with the second disk inserted.

old memories :)

Last edited by jkirk on 03-Feb-2011 at 05:11 PM.

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Win•dows: n. A thirty-two bit extension and graphical shell to a sixteen-bit patch to an eight-bit operating system originally coded for a four-bit microprocessor which was written by a two-bit company that can't stand one bit of competition.

@Deniil715

Quote:

Deniil715 wrote: @Yssing Quote: Of all the other posts Ive read, I havent noticed any one mentioning, the fact that on amigayou can control the mouse pointer using only the keyboard, down to a single pixel. That is some times extremely usefull.. :) +1 I use this A LOT when the battery runs out in the wireless optical mouse (never get the combination wireless+optical, it's incredibly stupid).

if you like the design or whatever, you might be trying some model of cherry. keyboard and mouse are wireless, it signals when the battery is running out with a led in the scroll weel (green, orange, red) and you can still using it in the case you let it drain totally, just plug in the USB-cable and it charges the battery while you are using it.
Pity the keyboard is not backlit. (I have not changed the battery of the keyboard since I bought it 4 or 5 years ago)

@OldFart

Righ or Left Amiga button on the keyboard and the arrow keys (if you keep pressed the one of the shift keys the pointer moves 10? pixel at the time instead), acceleration is there too. LAlt+RAmiga = left button, RAlt+RAmiga = right button

@Yssing

ups, you were faster!

Last edited by Amigo1 on 03-Feb-2011 at 04:38 PM.
Last edited by Amigo1 on 03-Feb-2011 at 04:38 PM.

@Amigo1

Quote:

... and you can still using it in the case you let it drain totally, just plug in the USB-cable and it charges the battery while you are using it.

Sweet! I've always wondered why they didn't make them like that! guess I just never met someone with one of those ones...

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