I just rediscovered MorphOS and was delighted to see that Mac Mini G4 is now supported. I burned the installation CD and I am getting a used Mac Mini G4 from a friend tomorrow. Can't wait to try MorphOS over the weekend! I read carefully most of the pages on this site and many interesting topics on this forum. I especially liked the 2.4 review and, after reading it and watching the video clips, I was sold.

It's hard to imagine right now that a MorphOS machine can replace my main home computer but I am curious how far it can get. I see that many of you are using MorphOS as your primary machine. I guess that's great but I am not sure if I will be able to replicate all the functionality I need. Also, laptop (PowerBook) support would be great (I saw the thread where it's announced for the future release). For now, I consider this as an experiment.

Anyway, here is what I am mostly doing on my machine and I already found some software which can help me but I am curious if any of you have additional hints/tips etc...

So I am simply listing the apps I see in my OS X dock, I guess they pretty much depict what I am doing with my machine 99% of the time. I am also appending some stuff which I occasionally do. This could also be used as a wish-list or feature request list for some of these apps, again I haven't tried anything yet but I am so excited about this that I am writing this now, maybe some of these things will be obvious after I install the OS over the weekend and start really playing with it! Also, this is an interesting mental exercise -- I think this is exactly what someone who is evaluating a switch from some other OS to MorphOS going to ponder about. So this is also me thinking out loud while looking at the downloadable software...

1. Safari: I guess OWB is the one to go with. Is there support for all modern technologies and plugins? I saw that YouTube videos are watched in some funky way in the review (is that some plugin?). I guess SSL must be supported? How about flash and other stuff? Most likely no Java applet support (since no JVM for OS?) I guess one has to try surfing the favorite websites and see for oneself...
2. Mail: it seems that YAM is the email client to use, I guess it will be ok...
3. Skype: heh, I guess it's unrealistic to expect this one anytime soon... there are several IRC clients though.
4. Address Book: PolyOrga? Does it support import of contacts? Is it integrated with Mail app?
5. iCal: PolyOrga?
6. iTunes: well, it's hard to expect any interaction with Apple devices but surely there is a multimedia player of some sort with ability to maintain a library of music and video files? AmiNetRadio?
7. iPhoto: ShowGirls? PTPDigCam?
8. Text editor: this one is covered I think
9. Console: covered
10. Printing to a remote printer (IP printing): any developments here?
11. Scanner: I have an old USB scanner, works on my Mac but it's ancient... probably lost cause on MorphOS for now
12. WiFi: I understand WiFi on Mac Mini is not supported for now, so I guess I will have to pull out an ethernet cable
13. Media player: I see an MPlayer port, that's a great player!
14. Retro players: I see SID is supported and also some other players for Amiga formats, it will be fun to try this
15. Emulators: lots of interesting stuff here as well, can't wait to try

I think it would be useful for this site to have a "translation table" web page for Windows, OS X and Linux users so they can see which favorite app for their OS is covered by the comparable app on MorphOS. (Something similar to what Apple did for "switch to mac" campaign.) That would clarify lots of things for people who just look to run their stuff and are not technically savvy or don't have (or won't invest) time to explore (especially if they have to decide whether to pay ?150).

I also saw "MorphOS compatible software"? Is that software written for Amiga but in a clean way (i.e. using API and not the direct hardware access) so it can be run "natively" under MorphOS? I see more than 1300 apps there but a reference to much more on AmiNet. It will be interesting to try some of this out! How does one know if an Amiga program can be run on MorphOS? Do you just try and if it works -- works?

Will probably have more impressions and questions after I try the real thing, wish me a warm welcome and luck for now :)