Hello all,
I'm a new user to the site, but a long-time Amiga user who has been stuck in Windows administration hell for the last 6 years. I have a number of upgraded A1200s (though I could never afford to go PPC) and I've been playing with WinUAE and AROS on-and-off for a few years.

I've reached the stage where I'm interested in upgrading to a PPC OS and have been exploring various options for a MorphOS or OS4 machine. However, I'm having trouble deciding if I will use it or if it will become another electronic toy that I buy and leave to gather dust (like the Wii I haven't used for a year). Although Mac Mini provides a cheap way of getting a decent 'Amiga-like' machine, £200+ (most MacMinis seem to sell for £100+ on ebay and £95 for the OS) remains a lot of money to spend on a hobby.

To determine if it will be money well spent, I've been reading various articles and watching YouTube videos on what people use MorphOS for. The majority appear to use it to run older commercial PPC games (e.g. Wipeout2097), 68k Amiga applications, emulators, and ported open source games - tasks that, with the obvious exception of Amiga PPC games, could be achieved on AROS or an Amiga emulator.

To help me to decide if I should go for a MorphOS MacMini box or stay with x86 solutions, I would be grateful if the collected brains of this forum could answer a few questions on how you use MorphOS.

1. What was the unique selling point - the feature or functionality - that personally convinced you to buy a MorphOS machine*?

2. What type of software do you typically use on your MorphOS box (e.g. 30% Amiga PPC games, 60% Amiga apps, 10% OSS games)?

3. How often do you use your MorphOS machine? Do you use it every day or is it something that you only boot up when there's a new release?

4. If you hadn't gone for your current machine, what else would you have gone for to feed your Amiga habit?

Thanks for any comments you may have. Please direct me to an existing thread, if this has already been discussed.

* It could be a Pegasos 1 or 2, emac, Mac Mini

Hi,

i've entered MorphOS world short time ago after being long time absent from Amiga.
Amiga is still something "special", that and the low price for a PowerMAC G4 Quicksilver (40,-€ for 800MHz Version on EBay) have been main reason to me for reentering the world of Amiga.
At the moment i'm using MorphOS quite often. As the main things i do at home with my computer are internet related things MorphOS is capable of doing the job easily.
My hope is, that MorphOS community grows by time that there will be a base for unique, new software.

1. To continue my experience with actively developed system from AmigaOS family.
2. 20% MorphOS PPC game, 70% MorphOS PPC apps, 10% AmigaOS 68k apps.
3. Everyday, main system.
4. My previous (Pegasos 2 G3).

[ Edited by Korni 28.09.2011 - 17:47 ]

"4. If you hadn't gone for your current machine, what else would you have gone for to feed your Amiga habit?"

My current MorphOS machine isn't my first one (I'm MorphOS user since 2003), so I think I would have kept one of my Pegasos machines for fulfilling my *MorphOS* needs, which slightly differ from my Amiga needs these days. For those I keep an old 68k Amiga here.

@ Transmorpher

First of all I think that you have to know what features of a computer you need for every days tasks
to be done. For me it was simple:
The onlinetvrecorder (OTR), I use this decoder almost every day.
Checking your mails (with Yam)
Play Videos (with MPlayer)
Surf and watch Youtube (with OWB)
Write and print Letters (with AmigaWriter)
View PDFs (with Apdf)
Burn CDs (with FryinPan)
Cut mp3s with (cutmp3)
Onlinebanking (with OWB)
Hear music (integrated player or mplayer, AmigaAMP)
Watch pictures (with lowview or cinema)
A good way to do that is just simple to install Ultimate Pack for MorphOS right
after installing MorphOS.
The most features are already within.

2. I use my MorphOS machine (PowerMac MDD) every day and exclusive, I have a PC beside me
but there is no reason for me to use it.

3. I have tried AROS but it was to complicated to setup and by the time I tried the
was no usable webbrowser. If AmigaOS4.x would run on cheaper machines
I will give it a try.

4. MorphOS like Aros or AmigaOS or Linux have the advantage that there a little
till no virus or trojaner to conquer with.

regarts




[ Editiert durch defender 28.09.2011 - 18:00 ]

Typing this on a PowerMac-QS 1.8GHz which is my 4th-in-a-row main MorphOS-puter (Pegasos1->Pegasos2->MacMini->PMac), so if it wasn't for this unit I would be running MorphOS on something else.

Since OWB became useable a everday browser sometimes ago MorphOS is my main OS and expect for the usual internet-nonsense I use it for developing (mostly Ambient for this year).

I don't thing there is an unique selling point for MorphOS over AROS but rather 1001 small ones. AROS is nice but in a way it's like Linux-on-desktop : "allmost there for the last 15 years"..... I'm not even gonna start on comparing it to that other PPC-OS.

But you really shouldn't trust our words, grab yourself a PowerMac off EBay, preferly one with supported GFX-card and atleast 32MB VMEM.

Read:
Radeon7500 a bit slow but good enough to show the power of the OS.
Radeon9xxx are much better but very few Macs come with them preinstalled.
ATI-Rage(Pro ??) also work but should only seen as a way of immediate testing and you will need to replace it with something ought you to decide to use the system a bit more.
NVidia cards are a nogo and need to be replaced before MorphOS can be started.

Once you have that sorted out you can download the MorphOS2.7-ISO and use it for 30min a boot without any limitations (it will get quite slow afterwards).

Invested money:
40Euro (give or take) for a PMac (even as low as 500MHz will do just fine)
1Euro for a CD-R

1) It was the logical upgrade path from where I was coming back then in autumn 2002 (Had an A1200PPC). Haven't been disappointed much since then. The major points today: works like I expected a modern Amiga to work. It is very fast and stable.

2)Mostly MorphOS Apps, a little share of Amiga 68k apps (most important TV-Paint) and a few games. Can't provide precise numbers, but by far most stuff is MorphOS native. 68k programs are in clear minority (maybe 20%). My most used applications are the webbrowser OWB which does about everything I need (google docs, online banking and trading, youtube, my usual news sites), MPlayer (which just replays everything up to 720p vids) YAM (mails), showgirls, TV-Paint, Apdf and Hollywood.

3) Daily. It is my main machine at home but I also use it for the job (Hollywood, reading and editing texts, doing mails, browsing the net, procesing pictures). At home I use MorphOS for 90% of the stuff, for the job it is varying, but let's assume about 1/3 is with MorphOS.

4) My first MorphOS machine was a Pegasos. I was pretty satisfied with that. If that wouldn't have been available I probably would find myself using predominantely soem x86 with Win+WinUAE&AROS&QNX. Anyway, before I got the Pegasos in 2002 I used a A1200ppc and a PIII laptop with Win+WinUAE and QNX, but my main machine was the A1200. I switched to teh Pegasos as mainmachine when MorphOS 1.3 came out. I was so satisfied with MorphOS already, that I found myself switching on the A1200 less and less and eventually disassembled it and sold off all the goods.

--

I also suggest to just get a Mac from ebay (or whatever), testdrive MorphOS for free (reboot every 30 mins) and in case you like it, register. Or in case you don't like it, resell the Mac again. You may lose a little money on reselling, but you could also gain a little, probably it will yield a very similar amount of which you invested yourself before. Only loss: a little time. But that loss will gain you some benefit: Afterwards you will have 1st hand experience on what MorphOS actually is about. And I guess if you like Amiga stuff, you will probably like it.

1. DOpus Magellan 2 worked on it. That (or software/OS with similar or better features) was my requirement for moving forward from 68k Amiga. And generally said it had a good _transparent_ emulation for classic Amiga software. Some alien system with UAE wasn't option for me, but faster system was getting more and more appealing.

I also got good offer for used Pegasos1 system. I probably couldn't afford any new next gen system otherwise in years back then. This was in 2004.

2. Hard to tell percentages, but very roughly 33% MorphOS original/native software (OWB, ShowGirls (extremely good image processing tool for digi photos etc), MPlayer, MusicPlayer, SSHCON), 33% MorphOS ports of classic Amiga programs (AmIRC, SimpleMail, CED) and 33% 68k software (Magellan2, IBrowse, AmTelnet, FinalWriter, ArtEffect, FXPaint2, PPaint). And girlfriend plays MorphOS native BoXiKoN game weekly or sometimes daily ;)

3. All the time at home. Mac mini 1.5GHz is my main computer, no dual boot, just MorphOS :) And I have second Mac mini in living room as remote controlled media center (with MorphOS of course).

4. Hard to say. I probably would have sticked with my gfx card and DSP sound card equipped 060/60 Amiga for some years. If there wouldn't been MorphOS, I could have considered OS4, but its filemanagement features lacked too much to be my main machine, because I did a lot of file handling... PC operating systems with separate emulator weren't my cup of tea either.. maybe Amithlon, but it was kinda dead end even if it would have offered speed increase... AROS wasn't matured at all and still wouldn't be enough. Thank god there was and is MorphOS, which has just got better and better :)

I will use the answers to this thread in preparation for the AmiWest 2011 Show in Sacramento, CA in approx. 3 weeks. The theme of this year's AmiWest Show is (IIRC) "The Everyday Amiga", so I will use some of these answers to show how many people are using their MorphOS2.x capable computers as their every day main computer.

With that in mind, if anyone else has more to contribute, or advice to help me in preparing the MorphOS display table at the AmiWest Show, post more comments here, or contact me directly.

1. What was the unique selling point - the feature or functionality - that personally convinced you to buy a MorphOS machine*?

I was a total redhead, and I woke up one day and realized that my 060 1200T was just too slow then. I wanted an A1, but couldn't afford it. About that time there
was talk or micro A1's, then Sams, but still pricey. I was on A.org reading through about Morphos on something called an efika@ 400mhz for $99, and figured
I'd try the blue side out instead of being narrow minded.....that was it!

2. What type of software do you typically use on your MorphOS box (e.g. 30% Amiga PPC games, 60% Amiga apps, 10% OSS games)?

for me in order owb, mplayer, ctorrent, mame, makecd/fryingpan, genesisplus, snes9x,e-uae/igame

3. How often do you use your MorphOS machine? Do you use it every day or is it something that you only boot up when there's a new release?

just about everyday

4. If you hadn't gone for your current machine, what else would you have gone for to feed your Amiga habit?

It would be this, or nothing(macmini1.5ghz)

Personally, I just like the quick boot time, the efficient structure, and support for Amiga like develoment that MorphOS offers.
And I am NOT an original Amiga user, nor do I run much 68K code.

Thanks folks, I've taken the plunge and purchased a Mac Mini G4 1.42GHz.

It's the most expensive thing I've ever bought on ebay. I have no idea how I'm going to explain this to the girlfriend.

You can start with a pair of shoes.

@transmorpher

Not been using MorphOS for around a year. But still:

1. PPC legacy (read: backward compatibility factor) Amiga system on most powerful and cheapest HW in Amigaland
2. I used mainly MorphOS native software, did not have enough time to build a decent program pack but I'd assume: 80% MorphOS SW 10% 68k SW 10% games&demos
3. I was using my morphos (Mac Mini PPC) everyday as a main computer
4. To me only MorphOS and AmigaOS count. AROS requires much time on improvement, however it wins in a custom HW pricing factor (which happens to be zero)

Quote:

Shoes were mentioned. In the plural. Cooking dinner and doing the housework for a month were also covered as appropriate payback for buying a machine with my own money. Go figure!

[ Redigeret af transmorpher 25.10.2011 - 22:35 ]

Well, I use MorphOS on daily base, I usually play music and videos, and if there is some time, i do work on my PowerD project, with OWB i do also watch my favourite webpages and chat with friends, occasionaly i do play some games or emulate old Amiga games. My main machine is peg2/g4, my secondary machine (temporarily) is a powermac with 2x1.8GHz G4 waiting for MorphOS registration, i do have also several other machines (peg1/efika/macmini).

And what do i see as the best advantage? It's the online security, as with MorphOS no one can scan my computer and watch me :)

bye, MarK.

ps: and because I love it!


[ Edited by MarK 26.10.2011 - 08:08 ]

It's the best of the ng Amiga options out there and i like it a lot. Also hardware-wise is powerful enough for a Amiga system and you don't have to sell your kidney to
continue amigaing

Because the alternative is a lame iPad lookin thing for $1200 from Hyperion that only runs at 800mhz and has a crappy 256mb of ram.
Morph on Powerbook this Christmas will blow it away for a whole let less money.

> the alternative is a lame iPad lookin thing for $1200 from Hyperion
> that only runs at 800mhz and has a crappy 256mb of ram.

"iPad lookin"? "$1200"? "800mhz"? "256mb of ram"? You sound severely confused.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/23/2312219/hyperion-promises-an-amigaos-netbook

>>> the alternative is a lame iPad lookin thing for $1200 from Hyperion
>>> that only runs at 800mhz and has a crappy 256mb of ram.

>> "iPad lookin"? "$1200"? "800mhz"? "256mb of ram"? You sound severely confused.

> http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/10/23/2312219/hyperion-promises-an-amigaos-netbook

Please tell me:

1. Where do you read "$1200" in that article?
2. Where do you read "256mb of ram" in that article?
3. Where do you read "800mhz" in that article?
4. How's that netbook "iPad lookin"?

In fact, it was said by the powers that be that the netbook is going to

- cost "about 300 to 500 US-Dollar" and that the "quoted price includes the AmigaOS 4.x license"
- come with "512 MB memory"

And we already know enough on the specs to conclude quite safely that it will be clocked at 400 MHz. Furthermore, there's no indication that an OEM version of the LimeBook will look anything like an iPad, which is a tablet computer, not a netbook.

Rather old thread ... I know, but new to me ...

I already have an old Mac Mini - G4, late 2005 model - was just collecting dust basically. A few months ago I decided to try it out and dang thing still booted up and worked OK. But it was rather sluggish running Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5.x) and found a version of Linux that could run on it. That was cool.

Got to wondering if there might be other alternatives - and stumbled across something about MorphOS. That piqued my curiosity. I knew of Amiga computers back in the day, but never had one - was interested in them, though. I thought 'hey, what not?' Of course, MorphOS is essentially Amiga-like but the idea of turning my old Mac into something sort of resembling what AmigaOS might possibly have become was fascinating.

After a bit of messing around with an unregistered installation, I went ahead and purchased the license.

This MorphOS system is basically just for the fun of it - runs remarkably well - impressed with it. I'll likely look around for various games - the web browsers seems decent enough for basic browsing - in all, for me anyway, a fun way to geek out a bit.

Quote:

When MorphOS was out it was backed by Bill Buck / Genesi. He helped with various ways to give MorphOS a platform to run on. A few new motherboards that were relatively inexpensive and publicity. At the time OS 4 had their stuff, MorphOS users had, MorphOS of course. There was lots of fighting/political stuff. So based on lots of those arguments, I knew I chose wisely and stuck with MorphOS. To this day, its the most updated of both and supports more PPC based systems for cheaper. I've had 5 systems and I believe I registered 4 (the Macintosh G4 I didnt). Pegasos I, EFIKA, Macintosh G4, Powermac G5, Powerbook G4. I only have the latter two and the Powerbook is the latest addition. I gave the Macintosh G4 away to a guy at a local Amiga club about a year ago or so. When I bought the Pegasos I, man, that was awesome. Boxed MorphOS 1.4.5, brand new motherboard..it was like buying my Amiga for the first time. The MorphOS Devs literally do this for nothing. But their nothing has brought me happiness and its very appreciated.


Quote:

I dont emulate much under MorphOS, if I do, its MAME. Every once in a while I would use UAE to play a game. I used to be a programmer at my place of employment, but now do other IT stuff for which pays alot more. The void of no longer programming has bothered me for a few years as that mental challenge is missing. So recently I cracked open my C programming book and started from scratch. I take my Powerbook with me and boot into MorphOS and am enjoying reading and starting to code again.

Quote:
With the recent PowerBook buy, every day when I get time. Before the Powerbook, not so much because I try not to use the computer as much when I get home and also I have another hobby which takes alot more of my time.


Quote:

I have a stock Amiga 500 with a kipper2k board but I also have an Indivision ECS board (not plugged in..doesnt fit with the kipper2k there), then I have the Gotek USB drive. So if I really wanted to, I could use actual hardware. I'm not *really* interested in using actual Amiga hardware, not much time, see my reply to #3 as to why.

Quote:

I'd look into a PowerBook unless you need speed. My G5 is blazing fast, but my PB gives me portability. I can play whenever I want, wherever I am.

Good luck with your decision.