If Windows Came to PPC, Would You Switch?

quoted from slashdot

"An anonymous reader asks: "This question was posted on Ask Slashdot about a week ago: 'If Mac OS X Came to x86, Would You Switch?' This makes me ask why not have Windows run on PowerPC?"

Can you imagine this ?

windows on amigaone ....

thanks god its just a nightmare

@quetzacoatl

Quote:

thanks god its just a nightmare

Don't be too sure about that one. Remember Windows has also been running on Alpha? So it shouldn't be too hard to port the code.

@quetzacoatl

Rumour has it that Apple has a Mac OSX x86 version running in it's labs. They don't want it to run it on (cheaper) PC's but in case they decide to dump IBM as they take there sweet time making G5's in decent amounts, and spend most of there time lagging behind x86 speed wise.

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@jiyong

The RSX initiative (XBox2) is rumored to have PowerPC chips in it and be running an version of embedded Windows...

@Intuitioned

My scary thought is that I have been using PC's longer than Amiga's. Even so the Amiga days were more memorable.

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@jiyong

Quote:

jiyong wrote: @quetzacoatl Quote: thanks god its just a nightmare Don't be too sure about that one. Remember Windows has also been running on Alpha? So it shouldn't be too hard to port the code.

NT4 actually ran on ppc aswell, but it only worked on certain very selected hardware... It also did not have much applications ported and had no forms of x86 emulation, so you virtually could not run anything besides what came with the OS.

@quetzacoatl

Quote:

thanks god its just a nightmare

Maybe not. At one point Windows NT ran on x86, PPC, Alpha and Mips processors, and there is a working PPC version of Windows 2000 that was never released.

From a technical point of view PPC Windows is trivially easy for Microsoft to do, but the economic case for it just isn't there. The PPC market as a whole is tiny, and considering most people who buy PPC machines do so to get away from Windows, potential sales would be almost zero.

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@quetzacoatl

> This makes me ask why not have Windows run on PowerPC?"

> Can you imagine this ?

> windows on amigaone ....

LinuxPPC and Bochs?

On my A4kPPC I *have* PCx and *Windows*, but PCx only uses the 68060.

In my old A500 I have an Vortex ATonce286 classic HW add-on, which allows me to run Windows...

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Dandy
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@DrBombcrater

>working PPC version of Windows 2000<
Does a working version of Windows really exist (any platform)? Why M$ didn't release any ?


Jerry

_________________
- AOS has been ported to ex-86 ! It's called AROS and WinUAE... Or E-UAE on Linux !

- A1XE-G4 up and runing with:
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AOS4 Final Update / AmiZilla 0.1 Alpha

@quetzacoatl

I thought this to myself the other day and it sure was a scary thought since I couldn't answer the question!

Offcourse it should have all the apps and games that Windows have. The question is, would I install it?

I thought about it for a long time and I didn't come up with an answer. Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. My A1 cover most things with AOS 4 and Linux but it lacks modern games.

I guess this depends on wheter you got a modern PC or not.

So... What would you people do?

@quetzacoatl

Simple answer: No.

Elaborated answer: why? I can have it in a cheap x86 board. Well, I've got one, used for compatibility issues with Win users or due to, unfortunately, programs missing in the Amiga side. What I would not want is a bloated OS whatever the CPU, even more when it needs big CPU power (and big cooling system, big PSU, big HD, big RAM, big power compsumtion...) to run it comfortably and smoothly. No, thanks.

The only advantage I see is that I would not need a separate WinBox, I could have both in a single computer... Or, alternatively, we could have a good Win emulator ;¬) But AmigaOS would be my main OS, as it is now.

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

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AOS4 Betatester
Member of ATO Spain
A1 Cfg
OS4 SCR
A1200

@Ferry

That is stupid. Of course I would not want a PPC Windows >< If I want to play modern, awesome, sweet juicy games and watch movies, etc, I would use Windows and thus buy me an x86 computer. What Windows lack is compensated nicely in my future to come AmigaOne. For development purpose I want to use AmigaOne: it provides both challenging and satisfactory results. Windows developing system is made to be so easy that I start not to use to my brain to solve program problems, at least with AmigaOne it is a challenge and when I finish completing a software I feell EXTREMELY SATISFIED.

Besides give it time maybe not in my life time, but hopefuly in my children's lifetime where there will be great deal of amigaOne softwares.

@Foody

It isn't stupid. Even a modern PC can be expensive if you want nice stuff. If you however got the Win CD for free (for some reason) and like I wrote earlier, everything that you can run on a x86-box could be used on your A1, wouldn't there be point installing it?

Yes it is discusting and I actually got a PC (old one) standing here but still...

Anyway... I can use Linux for the boring things and use AOS 4 for fun so I probably won't need a PC much.

Soon we'll have Warp3D and then we can play some nice 3D-games. I can't wait to install Shogo, Heretic II, Decent: Freespace and more and play them again!

However... If Windows was so easilly available as it is and the A1 was the only computer you got.... Would you install it or not?

I guess it depends on the person. I've installed Win 3.x in PC-Task and Win 98 in Qemu and Bochs through LinuxPPC. It's fun to try different OSs even if you end up runing one OS.

Last edited by hotrod on 25-Oct-2004 at 06:23 PM.

@hotrod

You know what hotrod now that you put it this way you have a valid point but I would still not bother, since I already have an x86 computer with these system specifications:

512 Mb of RAM,
G-Force 4 MMX 400 64 MB of RAM
60 GB hard drive space
CD Burner
Sound Blaster 128
Ethernet Card,
AMD 1.79 GHZ
FSB 266 Mhz
Windows XP Pro

I am happy with it and is running all my favorit games including NWN. I mean yes it would be an awesome choice if the person doesn't own a computer yet and this is the first time they are going to buy a PC, then a PC that supports Amiga, Macintosh, Linux and Windows seems to be a wowing system. But if a person like me who have already a good decent x86 and happy with it for awhile then I don't need ot bother install windows in my future to come amigaOne.

Also my brother is going to give me his PC when he is done with it, so I will have TWO x86 PCs O_O and they both will have WIndows XP installed on it...I guess that is a lot of Windows for my taste if you know what I mean ><

I think in the future when my brother gives me his PC I will simply use it as a server and install linux on it instead.

@Foody

Quote:

That is stupid.

First of all, don't call thing people you don't even know, i.e. me... :¬(

Then, to the question "Would you switch?" made by Quetzalcoatl, my answer, my opinion is mine, as respectable as anyone else opinion, and I'm not wanting to convince anybody.

Quote:

Of course I would not want a PPC Windows >< If I want to play modern, awesome, sweet juicy games and watch movies, etc, I would use Windows and thus buy me an x86 computer.

Well, I would better buy a PS2 for those tasks...

Anyway, I'm not a gamer, so your argument is not valid for me. I use the computer mainly for web surfing, mail reading&writing, some translations, page composition, some image creation and retouching, ans some other things I can't remember right now, but Amiga OS is enough for me for most of these tasks.

Are there some apps that I would like to have in OS4? Of course, I'm not stupid!! and I use them in a WinBox when needed (I would do in Linux, or even in Mac-under-Linux, but I'm not used to it yet), but Windows is NOT and will not be in a close future my main OS: I simply hate all the unnecessary complication of the system, the winding system tree, the Registry, the instalation/deinstalation process, the shutdown, the ever-growing-system-drawer-even-when-you-take-apps-out, the HUGE system requirements, the heavy-weight executables/DLL, the BSOD (even in Win 'I never hang' XP), Explorer..........

Perhaps it's that I'm used to AmigaOS, even if I have professionaly sold, bought, repaired, configured, assembled, dissasembled and used WinBoxes for more than 15 years, but I simply don't like it.

To sum up, for me Amiga is fun and WinBox is not.

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

_________________
Amiga user since 1988
AOS4 Betatester
Member of ATO Spain
A1 Cfg
OS4 SCR
A1200

@Ferry

Quote:

First of all, don't call thing people you don't even know, i.e. me... :¬(

Did not mean to call you stupid so I appologize if such implication have occured.

Quote:

Anyway, I'm not a gamer, so your argument is not valid for me. I use the computer mainly for web surfing, mail reading&writing, some translations, page composition, some image creation and retouching, ans some other things I can't remember right now, but Amiga OS is enough for me for most of these tasks.

Argument? I thought I was just giving my opinion that is all. I had not intention to change your mind either way, nor do I want too. O_O

Quote:

Are there some apps that I would like to have in OS4? Of course, I'm not stupid!! and I use them in a WinBox when needed (I would do in Linux, or even in Mac-under-Linux, but I'm not used to it yet), but Windows is NOT and will not be in a close future my main OS: I simply hate all the unnecessary complication of the system, the winding system tree, the Registry, the instalation/deinstalation process, the shutdown, the ever-growing-system-drawer-even-when-you-take-apps-out, the HUGE system requirements, the heavy-weight executables/DLL, the BSOD (even in Win 'I never hang' XP), Explorer..........

I agree that Window is a bloated operating system and that it is horribly coded which is why I would use Windows to play all my games and do all my multimedia stuff while I use AmigaOne for my serious work and developing purposes.

Quote:

o sum up, for me Amiga is fun and WinBox is not.

I agree with you hundred percent.

@Dandy

so how quick is Bochs then ?

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ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.

@Agafaster

Slower than that which slowly slows to the slowest possible slowliness? Bochs really is the worst emulator I've seen. Even really old EGA games run rather poorly - which is surprising since PCTask ran these games fine on midrange Amigas.

QEMU is much more promissing with JIT and is cross platform. It formed the bases of the most excellently progressing PearPC, which is already almost useful on my meager 3.2GHz P4. Alternatively, if you're looking for PC-PC emulation (for old hardware compatibility), or Mac-PC emulation, something like VirtualPC might be a better choice. There's also always a DOS boot disk (since most VGA cards still have VESA and old EGA modes - the hard part is SB16 emulation).

RE: Running Windows on PowerPC - I don't think it would be really successful - inspite of Microsofts muscle. First off, just because the OS was ported, does not mean that games and other software would be - until porting these would still require emulation and be just as slow as anytother emulator around. The Windows API alone would not make porting apps from x86 to PPC significantly easier - there are still many other issues, such as endianess, etc. Secondly, I'd say that most of the PPC community only uses Windows as a last resort, if at all, and that their PPC machine, running OSX, Linux or AOS4 is their "baby" and would never be soiled by Windows. Finally, I don't think PPC presents a large enough market base for MS to maintain something a huge as Windows.

I think there's a much better future for OSX or AmigaOS on x86. Yummy. Awesome OSs on cheap hardware.

Last edited by NonarKitten on 26-Oct-2004 at 05:16 PM.

@Foody

Quote:

Argument? I thought I was just giving my opinion that is all. I had not intention to change your mind either way, nor do I want too. O_O

Oh, sorry, I used "argument" as "reasoning" or "argumentation":

"argument [ɑ:rgjəmənt]
A noun
3 argument, argumentation, debate
a discussion in which reasons are advanced for and against some proposition or proposal; f.ex., 'the argument over foreign aid goes on and on' "

Sorry, English is not my mother languaje

Saluditos,

Ferrán.

_________________
Amiga user since 1988
AOS4 Betatester
Member of ATO Spain
A1 Cfg
OS4 SCR
A1200

@NonarKitten

somewhat like playing Quake2 on a speccy ?! I get the idea !

and, no I dont think AOS4 would benefit from x86 - same problems, just different architecture. not to mention having to rewrite the bldy thing for other-endianness (sorry, can never remember which way round that goes...), and the fact that Hyperion wont do it.

sheesh I've jst discovered something about typing at 11:00pm on the day of BST->GMT ... I cannae dae it capn !

best way to get these awesome OSes on Cheap hardware is to wait til the most awesome of these OSes is out in the wild (ie: full release) and evangelise them like a b@stard to your buddies - do demos - run Quake, take the side off so they can see the fan on yer G3 !
starting to babble now, going to beddybyes...

_________________
XH558 - the worlds last flying Vulcan.
ok, its actually XL426 in the picture but you know what I mean.