Boys and girls, it’s time to dust off your Pegasos II machine, or maybe to reduce the size of your MorphOS partition, because there’s a new contender coming your way: ACube Systems Srl has announced the immediate availability of AmigaOS 4.1 for the Pegasos II. It’s 01:40 here, so I can’t check if the sky is falling, but I’m pretty sure it is.
If only a few months ago you would’ve told anyone in the Amiga community that AmigaOS 4.1 would be available for the Pegasos II, you would probably receive a pat on the head and a few reassuring words about going along with the nice man in the white coat. That was then, this is now: Pegasos II owners can enjoy AmigaOS 4.1.
When it comes to actually increasing the installed base of AmigaOS 4, the Pegasos II route isn’t exactly going to make a whole lot of difference; the machine is no longer in production, so you need one from eBay or similar locations. With both MorphOS and AmigaOS contending for the same machine, prices for the Pegasos II will only go up.
Releasing AmigaOS 4.1 this way is more of a mental victory; despite all the legal bickering and other incomprehensible legal nonsense, AmigaOS is still making its way to new platforms, paving the way for the release everyone is actually waiting for: AmigaOS 4.1 for PowerPC Macs. Support for these old Apple boxes is what both MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.1 need in order to actually make any seizable impact. I know I personally would shell out cash for both of them if they ran on my PowerMac G4 dual-450Mhz. To state it another way: apparently, Hyperion and ACube can market AmigaOS 4 for new machines now – then why on earth would you wait with at least a Mac Mini version?
In any case, AmigaOS 4.1 for Pegasos II is available immediately for 105 EUR.
The effort is appreciated but at this point the idea of the AmigaOS making a comeback as anything other than a nostalgic niche product is inconceivable. Far better companies and OSes have come and gone in the wake of Commodore’s downward spiral: BeOS, Domain/OS, Genera, IRIX, etc.
/Loved playing games on his old Amiga 500.
True. Any kind of large commercial comeback is unlikely , however as a lightweight retro niche thing it could have a purpose. Atleast there are not many OSes on PPC anymore so the playing field is slightly more open there I guess. AROS does have a ppc version and there is MorphOS. Maybe a couple others.
What us Amiga geeks are hoping for though is a retro Amiga computer in a FPGA called NatAmi, Native Amiga. This will run OS3.9 however and be fully backwards compatible machine, and like how Amiga could have been if it was updated to today. The guys behind it is even making a new AGA video chip in the FPGA called SUPERAGA. It is what every demoprogrammer of olde would have had wet dreams about.
http://www.natami.net/
Wow – that is some shocking news. As commented already by Thom – if you had access to the Way-back Machine and went back to 2003 or so this wouldn’t ever seem in the realm of possibility.
OS4.1 is quite robust of an OS and I would throw it on my Mac Mini in a heartbeat..or my Efika for that matter but the PegII is a pretty hard find.
Milatchi: Though it certainly is a hobbyOS and any OS4 dev would tell you that all the same. It is certainly not the same os you ran on your A500 with cracked warez.
There would have been no BeOS without AmigaOS, and that is for sure.
Of course. as welcome as this news is, and I will be buying a copy, 2003 is about when it should have happened. some Mac Minis 2 years ago, all PPCs Macs a year or so ago, with work on a Intel conversion well underway now.
Still it is a nice OS, sure it’ll only be a niche, but the OS is usable now, it’s just the lack of applications holding it back. Well that lack of memory protection, hardware etc.
Edited 2009-02-01 09:26 UTC
I must have missed something.
What happened to Hyperion? Shouldn’t Amiga Inc be the ones releasing it?
Though, f–k Amiga Inc, and the Pegasos has always been superior, nice to see both OSes on the same platform. Too bad Amiga is dead, hate all the owners of this battled brand
Edited 2009-02-01 03:13 UTC
Hyperion and Amiga, Inc. had a bit of a falling out and got into a bit of a legal battle over who owned OS 4.
The way the contract was structured was something like Hyperion could sell OS 4.0, but once it was complete had to turn over the rights and source for a fixed fee and Amiga, Inc would handle 4.1. Amiga, Inc (Delaware) said they had paid the fee and should be given OS 4.0. Hyperion argued that the money paid was for something else and that further that Amiga, Inc no longer owned OS 4.0.
Apparently, the contract had a clause that would give Hyperion full control of OS 4.0 if Amiga, Inc (Washington) became “insolvent”, but the contract never defined what was meant by “insolvent”. Hyperion argues that Amiga, Inc (Washington) was insolvent, in part, based on testimony from the president or CEO during another civil trial. Amiga, Inc (Delaware) argued that since Amiga, Inc (Washington) never declared bankruptcy that they weren’t technically insolvent.
There was also a bit of an argument about whether Amiga, Inc (Delaware) had any rights under the contract which was originally made with Amiga, Inc (Washington). When Amiga, Inc (Washington) ran out of money there was a bit of a shell game where their assets moved around to a couple times finally ending up at KMOS, Inc. which renamed itself to Amiga, Inc. The paperwork behind this was apparently pretty shoddy.
I don’t know what happened to that case. It’s possible Hyperion won or that Amiga, Inc ran out of money and gave up. It’s also possible the case is still ongoing (I seem to remember that Amiga, Inc failed to get an initial injunction against Hyperion).
Because you and millions of others THINK that Amiga is dead doesn’t mean it IS. It’s alive and kicking. New software updates comes all the time for both AmigaOS4.1 and MorphOS. The classic AmigaOS is also still supported by software developers!
Commodore died YES!.. But Amigascene never died. That’s why we have a PPC platform now which Commodore never entered. The USERS of this system have told the WORLD that Amiga IS NOT DEAD.
Amiga systems is the best out there. Just buy an Amiga and see for yourself why. YOU won’t understand it before you’ve tried it.
So stop commenting that AMIGA IS DEAD, because it’s NOT! Maybe your spirits, souls have taken Amiga farewell, but in reality AMIGA IS ALIVE! Now more than ever! Just check out http://www.aminet.net! New software and updates comes almost daily. http://www.amigaworld.net, http://www.amiga.org, http://www.amiganews.de reports daily news from the Amiga Development and Happenings!
So, my conclusion is. Rather than trying to imagine that AMIGA IS DEAD, turn your heads 720 degrees around and face whats the face. AMIGA IS STILL ALIVE.
Regards,
Mike
After a 720 degree turn I would still be facing the same way.
Actually, after turning your head 720 degrees, you’d probably be facing the pearly gates…
Correct, and in front of me in the line Amiga would be standing.
Unless you do the smart thing and turn your body with it
Tss, I’m still among one of the last which used it, and I haven’t used it in years.
Sure there may come some products but how many developers are there on Amiga now vs then? And with no new hardware or software (AmigaOS 4 doesn’t count, it’s still a fail and won’t get new users) how’s that likely to improve?
Sure if someone gave me an A4000 with Cyberstorm and graphics card I’d probably use it but it’s not like I’ll go out and buy such a machine.
The Amiga is indeed dead for all us who have left, which is what? 99.9%? I would assume many of the people who claim it’s not dead don’t even use it themself.
The AmigaPPC platform is more or less dead since 10 years ago to ..
I don’t need to buy an Amiga, I have an Amiga 500+ and my Amiga 1200 with 68030@50MHz, 8 MB fastmem and 1.7 GB HDD, and also took my friends Amiga 1200 with same turbocard because he was going to trash it when he got his new girlfriend.
But I don’t even have an ethernetcard for it, if I had I would probably had used it for IRC 3-8 years ago but I’m not around at IRC longer either.
Kind of everyone KNOW Amiga is dead, it’s more useless to stop saying it’s not …
“AMIGA IS ALIVE! Now more than ever”
lol, yeah! Compare amiga demo scene 88-95 with current? Or what?
Regarding your news sites, even the best one, ann.lu, gave up.. Says enough don’t it?
[snip]
“because he was going to trash it when he got his new girlfriend.”
[snip]
+1
If they could just port it to hardware I could actually buy. Then I could at least care. Tough concept, ey?
Even if it could run on qemu or similar, would be better then nothing.
Well…
Try AROS on X86 INTEL machines…
It is AmigaOS like, and features the same concepts and ease of use.
It mimic the AmigaOS API but it is not the same as AmigaOS, and it is still incomplete, but it is becoming an interesting OS…
AROS reboting
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=_yNIuNnBrWg
VMWAros 1.0
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=scY9LXEGCB0
Amiga E-UAE Emulator on VMWAros 1.0
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=ee2PWvCZeLo
Version 1.0.1 of WMVAROS (Aros running on Virtual Machine VM player) is available here…
http://vmwaros.blogspot.com/2009/01/vmwaros-101-update-disc-availab…
Very good video about coexistence of AmigaOS and MorphOS on 1 Pegasus2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usceTXybNbA
Okay, I could trawl the web but I know you guys are more knowlegeable.
Can this run on a mac ppc?
cheers
bob
Basically no, although some have experimented with getting it running on specific Mac Minis.
The intent is first to re-unificate the entire userbase, but sure AmigaOS can run on Macintoshes…
There is project MOANA that runs AmigaOS 4.0 on MacMini PPC.
It has been spotted many times…
There is also a pirated pre-release of it running on some macMini PPC with 1,42 GHZ processor, latest firmware and ATI 9200 graphic card hanging on some torrent sites, but obviously as being only one INCOMPLETE AND ILLEGAL version, it is not actually a valuable solution…
There are crazy people that loves hacking strange and incomplete OSes and tried to run it, buit as being only a pre-release and not officially supported it lacks of some important drivers, such as AUDIO DRIVER for Macintosh Hardware Audio chipset…
I saw a video on youtube showing people who run it and there are discussions about the hack attempts…
http://www.amiga.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=47795&for…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W7ajFhu7PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHtbB5Xmxf0
I wonder why the Pegasos 1 is not supported?
It’s hardware is basically identical to the AmigaONE boards.
I have one gathering dust in the spare room which I’d love to try OS4.1 on.
Rogue Frieden (one of the developers) said on Amigaworld.net discussion that Pegasos 1 version is being considered…
http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&to…
Supported hardware:
Amiga One, Pegasos II, Sam440ep.
Bohooing over missing support for PowerMacs isn’t all that productive. Get a Sam440 from ACube (which includes AmigaOS, IIRC). Support the alternative ecosystem.
http://www.acube-systems.biz/eng/sam.php
http://www.sam440.com/eng/sam440ep-flex.html
If only it had an alternative pricetag as well.
… and if there was a demo version available. MorphOS can be downloaded ad tested w/o restrictions except that it slows down every 30 mins.
Yes I understand this but here is my and I’m sure many others situation.
I fancy having a look. And then I may like it and start buying software from shareware/commercial vendors (this solidifies the platform.
However, 600 euros (^Alb600 now) can buy me a core2duo laptop with which to stick on linux/win/etc etc etc. AND i’d still have about ^Alb150 change.
I also fancy a wee mac, however, the latest OSX is not going to be on PPC anymore. But I’d gamble on a second hand macmini from ebay etc for ^Alb200/euro and have a look at OSX and Amiga.
I won’t look at amiga on a system that costs at least 2-3x my budget.
This is why RISCOS died… specialist hardware THAT WAS not really that usefull elsewhere for the os that you only want to try.
All the best
Bob
And you will miss a plain OS which OBEYS TOTALLY your commands without bothering you with unuseful, strange and HIDDEN services as it does Windows and also AmigaOS does not require any degree in computer science as Linux requires…
600 Euros for being free?
It is a bargain…
And if you are a computer hobbyist, then buying Sam hardware + AmigaOS, sure it is an opportunity to have decent modern hardware with its OS…
Amiga it is a cheaper Hobby than collecting vintage cars or motorcycles, or any other expensive hobby…
Edited 2009-02-02 18:39 UTC
600 Euros? Hahahaha
no
A little known OS run by a couple hundred people is released for a board that went out of production long ago.
Nothing to see here, move along…
Cherrypal should have exploded their user base.
In Amiga-land, especially since this particular bit of action will allow Amiga people to use hardware they already have to actually do something useful.
Still, if Amiga wants to live and grow, they need to work on getting the price of the SAM440+AOS4.1 combo down. Making your product available for more old hardware is a good start, but. Anyways, I’m off to go spec the price of a new “Power” Amiga…
It would had been nice if they could just accept that it has no market value and release it for free as open-source not that that will happen and it would be to late anyway.
Kind off fun with the youtube video, can he even visit youtube from it? Guess not ;/. Sure I hate flash as much as everyone else and would eventually uninstall it on this machine but anyway.
Duke Nukem Forever will be released in a week?
Amiga is a truly proof that miracles can happen…
So do not loose your faith…
Sooner or later you will see also Duke Nukem Forever running on Peecees…
If the Cell processor is based on the PPC, how come no one suggests getting AmigaOS to run off a PS3?
Talk about a built-in base…