I've been missing the old Amiga days quite a lot recently, in 2000 I sold my A1200T PPC CV63/3D to someone in the US, I've regretted it ever since.
I've done quite a bit of digging and research over the past month, and I believe the best option for me is to buy a 2nd hand PowerMac G4 and get a licence for MorphOS next month.
I'm joining you lot no matter what the answers are to the below, but I was hoping I could get some feedback from you guys to some queries I have (mainly software recommendations):

1) I have read a lot about Hollywood, but looking on the site I can see no way to download/buy it unless it's not the English version, can anyone help with this? (I've developed Android apps for a couple of years so would love to expand this to Amiga software by trying out Hollywood)

2) Is there any photo manipulation software available? I'm not expecting Photoshop, but something simple would be nice (do online sites like SumoPaint work OK in OWB?)

3) Video editing? (even simple edits)

4) Any way to use Dropbox other than the website?

5) Is it easy to read/write to a shared folder on Windows 7 on the same network?

6) Can I remote control the MorphOS PC from work or my home laptop? (I currently use Chrome Remote Desktop on the PC, I also connect via VPN from my phone), and could I control my PC from MorphOS?

7) Is there any issues with Google Docs on OWB?

8) Does Google Music work in OWB as this is my main source for music?

9) Is there a way to download newsgroups binaries over SSL using nzb files?

As I said, these aren't dealbreakers, but I was a massive Amiga user back in the 90s and I'd really like to use this as my main desktop, which I think I will be doing, so any of the above would be just icing on the cake!

Thanks in advance for any help, advice & pointers

Hi and welcome to our merry gang!

1, at the moment Hollywood is not for sale, but they say that it will be available in the near future again.

2, Art effect 4

6, yes but I don't remember how. But it's possible.

7, not that I've noticed.

This is what I know atleast

Yasu,
Quote:
Thank you!

> 1) I have read a lot about Hollywood, but looking on the site I can see no way
> to download/buy it unless it's not the English version, can anyone help with this?

It was said to "soon be available" again 1.5 months ago.

> 2) Is there any photo manipulation software available?

Some random MorphZone threads on this topic:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7080&forum=9
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7311&forum=3
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7566&forum=9
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=9177&forum=9&start=50

> 4) Any way to use Dropbox other than the website?

No.

> 5) Is it easy to read/write to a shared folder on Windows 7 on the same network?

Should work with SMBFS. More there:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7451&forum=16
https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=8356&forum=3

> 6) Can I remote control the MorphOS PC from work or my home laptop? [...]
> could I control my PC from MorphOS?

Yes, both is possible. MorphOS comes with a Remote Desktop client and also some form of VNC.

> 9) Is there a way to download newsgroups binaries over SSL using nzb files?

http://downloads.morph.zone/find.php?find=nzb

2) MorphOS comes with ShowGirls program, which is fine especially for photo manipulation. I use it to crop, scale, sharpen, straighten, color correct etc basic operations for digital photos. Then all the main graphics programs from 68k Amiga do work well too. Art Effect, FXPaint, ImageFX, Photogenics etc.

3) You can do some commandline editing with mencoder (I do some format changes, trimming, joining, audio adding etc with it).. there's some sort of 3rd party gui for it too. I've heard that you can do some video editing with Blender too, but haven't tried.

5) If SMBFS works with your setup, then it's easy. I've heard some problems with newer Windows versions or NAS devices, but what I've been using it with XP and Debian it works just fine.

6) You can control PC from MorphOS with Remote Desktop (client comes with MorphOS) and VNC. And you can control MorphOS from other computers for example with VNC.

[ Edited by jPV 19.08.2013 - 15:36 ]

2) depending on what you mean with "photo manipulation" the included ShowGirls (under Apllications) offers some basic tools

3) that is supposed to be possible with the ported Blender, just don't ask me how. There might be simpler tools for just converting, cutting or joining videos

5) Samba/SMBFS is supposed to work

6) VNC is the way to go here

9) not sure if http://kaczus.republika.pl/newscoaster/ can do this

Just a small hints:

If you want to register for a G4 PMac, better make sure that you have a descent GFX (Radeon9000 with 64MB or better) and CPU (you really want something with atleast 1GHz) at hand. Just getting those alone can be harder than getting a full PMac in that configuration.
Ideally you either buy a MDD/FW800 which came with those specs as defaults, or an OuickSilver (or older) that allready has been upgraded by the previous owner.

Thank you very much guys, it's looking a LOT more promising than I thought!
Just watched a video of ShowGirls and it looks much better than anything I have on Windows for basic editing!!
Just answered my own number 9, I cannot believe I forgot Aminet existed!
It used to be my forst port of call from 1993 until 2000!
there's an NZB reader/downloader called PullDog for MorphOS

Kronos, thanks for the advice, maybe a Mac Mini will be the way to go then?
is there anything to look out for with these or will any of the G4 ones work?
I will have around £80-100 to spend with the MorphOS licence on top of that (I will be using KVM so no need for monitor etc)

[ Edited by mmace 19.08.2013 - 14:12 ]

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Nice systems although the fans can be noisy on some models. Enjoy!

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There is some hope in that regard:
"Please note that Hollywood 5.3 is currently only available for existing customers and cannot be purchased at this time but here is some good news for all people planning to buy Hollywood: Both Hollywood and Hollywood Designer will soon be available for purchase from Airsoft Softwair again." - July 07 2013

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Showgirls (included with MorphOS) is fantastic, offering a surprisingly rich feature set with a really clean interface..
Photogenics, for a fulller photoshop-like featureset is reputed to work, but it has been a long time since I had a copy to try out (I used to have Photogenics 5).

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Short answer: Sumopaint no. Many others yes.

OWB has a very up-to-date html5 feature set (around Firefox standards iirc) but only a limited flash implementation based on swfdec (around flash 8 level). Consequently some flash-based sites will work, some won't.
I consider it more of a bonus when they do work - if one expects all flash-sites to work then it will lead to disappointment.
Sites based on html5 however will mainly work (unless using webGL), such as the html5 version of google streetview. Some won't such as Angry Birds.

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Pass on that one. afaik mencoder works, but is without any kind of GUI. Not sure whether our Blender version offers video editing.

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AFAIU no, although I've not used Windows since XP.
SMBFS is available, which worked fine with XP shares, however MS seems to have broken SMB compatibility with Windows 7.
Setting up an FTP server is probably the simplest and most reliable way to share files between from Win7 to MorphOS, with the exception of using a USB stick.

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Yes, with MorphOS VNC server and a suitable VNC client on your work/home laptop.
Remote desktop uses a different protocol (RDP), so you would need to use a client that supports VNC protocol.

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Yes, there are a couple of VNC clients available.
There is also a remote desktop client (so you could connect to a a remote PC using RDP, just not the other way round)

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Not aware of any, aside form the limitations of google docs itself.


EDIT: Damn, way too slow. Less previewing & editing, more posting!

[ Edited by boot_wb 19.08.2013 - 14:21 ]

MacMini's come in 4 configs:
1.25, 1.33, 1.42 and 1.42Ghz !!

Well kind of ;) Those last were labeled and sold as 1.42GHz but where inreality silently upgraded to 1.5GHz.

Those 1.5GHz Minis are the only ones with 64MB VRAM over the stock 32MB. You definitly want those 64MB !

A similar specced PowerMac G4 might not also be availble slighly cheaper, but also allows further upgrades:
- SATA cards
- 2nd video card
- video cards with up to 128MB (in some models you might even get a 256MB 9600s to work)
- 1.5GB useable RAM (Minis only take 1GB)

My main MorphOS puter is a QuickSilver 2001 with 1.8GHz Sonnet card, Sil3112 and 128MB Radeon9000 cramped into a Commodore-Gaming case, but such a setup is likely to far exceed your budget.
At 100Euro you should be looking for a single-CPU 1.25GHz MDD-PowerMac G4 (these had a Radeon9000pro with 64MB as stock), or wait for a good offer on a 1.5GHz MMini.

Go for a Powermac G4. A Quicksilver will work fine if you can find a 1GHZ or faster one. I'm using a G4 MDD version that I replaced all the fans with newer near silent ones. So the wind machine problem is gone for me.

I had an A3000 loaded to the max that I owned since it was new before going MorphOS when the Pegasos II was released. My 3000 at the end of me owning it was in an Elbox Mirage Tower, had the A3000 mediator in it, CSPPC accelerator and ever singe PCI card the mediator supported. The day I got my Pegasos and had MorphOS up and running that A3000 was a thing of the past. I could do a lot more on MOS. For classic games I use UAE with no trouble. Ive even been using it as my primary system to see how much real work I can get accomplished on it for nearly a month now.

My G4 Powermac is even a step above my Pegasos II machine ever was. You will get the exact feeling you had with your A1200 and even more.

> Some won't such as Angry Birds.

This used to work at least.

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=10&topic_id=7556&start=3

cheers Kronos, I've seen some going within my price range so think that's what I'll go for (the 1.5Ghz Mini), I didn't know the power macs were noisy, I just spent a fortune on my i7 PC to get it quiet so maybe the Power Macs are out of the running now!


Another question for you all, I do web development on the side (I learned HTML from CU Amiga and built a lot of sites using MicroEMACS on my A1200, this then got me my first job in IT!), is there anything similar to Notepad++ on MorphOS that will allow me to code html/php/javascript and colour-code the text for me?

> MacMini's come in 4 configs: 1.25, 1.33, 1.42 and 1.42Ghz !! Well kind of ;) Those last
> were labeled and sold as 1.42GHz but where inreality silently upgraded to 1.5GHz.

This was the case with the silent upgrade from 1.25 to 1.33 GHz was well, btw.

> is there anything similar to Notepad++ on MorphOS that will allow me to code
> html/php/javascript and colour-code the text for me?

Scribble supports syntax highlighting, but I don't know for which languages beside C(++), if any.

https://morph.zone/modules/news/article_storyid_1886.html

hey, have a look at this!

http://oi40.tinypic.com/jgidrp.jpg

These are all the supported text types i guess :)

wow, cheers guys, the things I've learned about MorphOS's programmes today has exceeded my wildest expectations!

thank you all for the quick and informative replies, I can't wait to join you all very soon!
(I'm tempted to sell my Pebble Smartwatch to get the money to jump in straight away!)

I'd like to add that while a G4 Powermac makes for a nice machine, the supported G5's are quite nice as well (from personal experience; my DP 2.3 with a Radeon 9600 is quite the upgrade from a Pegasos 2 ;). Oh, and near silent too!


[ Edited by Stevo 19.08.2013 - 17:51 ]

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My fan-cooled DP 2.7 sounds like a jet engine taking off! lol

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1) don't know.
2) showgirls, ppt, imagefx, photogenics.
3) blender, mplayer.
4) I'd like to know this one too.
5) Windows 7 uses NTLM v2 with 128bit encryption for shares. You can dumb down a share or share polices on windows 7 to work with Samba which is available for Amiga68k which should work on MOS. Change the Windows 7 share policy to allow for NTLM v1 if you want to be compatible with Samba/XP.
6) Yes, RemoteDesktop is available with a GUI. I have controlled Windows machines just fine. No VPN software is avalable yet for MOS. maybe one day.
7) Don't use google docs.
8) I don't google much.
9) News groups? I haven't used a newsgroup on a PC since the stone ages.

Hope that helps.

Force ntlm v1 for windows 7 and vista:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21439833



[ Edited by bash64 19.08.2013 - 13:25 ]

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Scribble has Perl and HTML listed in it's Types settings among others (E, Lua, Python, Bash etc)

I've only used it for C and C++ so I can't say how good it's support for other languages is but the syntax highlighting and auto-completion for C/C++ is very goood indeed.

There's always Cubic IDE but it's not been updated for a long time and probably won't be either but I remember that it has some kind of Web Development package included.

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The mini 1.5 Ghz _can_ be noisy, too. If on low load the device is pretty silent, but if go go for full load the noise is a bit annoying. It helps though to clean the mini from time to time (it's not too hard to open). But generally the 1.5 GHz mini is a pretty neat machine, I have it in the living room and it's probably my most used computer.

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And Cubic has a plug in for Hollywood with syntax highlighting, run code directly from Cubic, documentation acessible from Cubic and more. For Hollywood quite a good choice.

> There's always Cubic IDE but it's not been updated for a long time and probably won't
> be either but I remember that it has some kind of Web Development package included.

Yes, it's called Webworld.

https://morph.zone/modules/news/article_storyid_1316.html

It doesn't seem to be available from the current website, though.

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You can buy it on CD or Download Only from here:

http://www.softwareandcircuits.com/division/amiga/onlineshop/index.html

@mmace - While you're waiting for Hollywood, you might like to try Lua.

https://morph.zone/modules/news/article_storyid_2051.html