AmigaOS4 classic review
The “PowerPC future” was launched as a kind of next generation CPU standard for the Amiga after Commodore closed down in 1994. Previous processors in Amiga computers where all based on Motorola 68k processors, so it was natural at the time to go forward with the next generation chip from Motorola which was the PowerPC. Back in those days hardware used to be tightly connected to the software in most Amiga users minds so it would have been tough to sell a turbo board or new motherboard with an Intel CPU for an Amiga user.
There where actually a couple of different PPC solutions planned but only Phase 5’s BlizzardPPC and CyberStormPPC cards where released. Phase 5’s cards where dual processor cards containing both a classic 68k CPU and a faster next generation PPC chip. The idea was that the operating system would run on the 68k CPU and applications would run on the PPC CPU, a perfect thought and a good compromise between next generation and truly next generation at the time.
Sadly though PPC did not become the defacto next generation standard for the Amiga many had hoped for. As the PPC was used only as a co-processor used for specific programs it did not do anything to speed up the system if the user did not run specific programs compiled for the PPC CPU. For example datatypes where made for PPC which meant quicker JPG decoding. PPC cards where expensive so there where some who did not buy the cards because they could get a PC for the same cost. Technically there was a problem where a program used both the 68k CPU and the PPC CPU did not get the speed boost everyone expected since the OS was still running on the 68k side. But it was not only the fault of the hardware, company politics where behind the problems to.
The first generation PPC cards where not a perfect solution and Phase 5 already had plans for the next version of the turbo boards which cut out the 68k CPU completely. This time a G3 CPU was supposed to be used emulating the 68k processor giving the whole system a speedboost. Sadly, the G3 card never came to the market since Phase 5 went down.
Other PPC alternatives for the Amiga were a G3 accelerator by Metabox (a company with some roots with the Amiga) called the AmiJoe. AmiJoe was actually showed at various Amiga shows but the card was not finished so it was never showed in a working state, the AmiJoe project was eventually canceled. Escena was another company who was supposed to make a PPC card, however no card was ever released.
Before OS4 was released for the classic Amiga computers there was not any valid reason to get a PPC card for the Amiga, IMHO. In these times of 3 GHz processors and free multitasking operating systems ,like Ubuntu with good usability, Amiga is not the kind of workhorse it used to be, most tasks can already be done on any other computer but an Amiga much better and faster too.
But even though Amiga is not so much up to the task anymore competing with latest PC hardware performance wise there is something special about the operating system on the Amiga, and there are a dedicated few who want to push their favorite computer to the limits, any cost it will have. That is why there was a batch of pure PPC motherboards manufactured and released as the “proper” successor to the Amiga after year 2000. Those motherboards “called AmigaOne” can not be bought anymore and where far more technically advanced than the classic Amiga/PPC combo. There is hope for the future that a new AmigaOS4 compatible motherboard is going to be relased, however for now an Amiga 1200 or 4000 with a PPC card or an AmigaOne motherboard is your only option for running the latest version of Workbench.
To release OS4 for classic at this point of time is a bit strange since the community have been hurt for a lot of years by broken promises. You could easily say the remaining few who are still around are pure hardcore users, but many hope OS4 will be a kind of accelerator for the community bringing in those who used to like the Amiga but let it go years ago when they could not install Unreal Tournament on it.
The problem with OS4 Classic is that it is only possible to run it on an Amiga with a PPC card. I would not claim PPC cards are rare but they can fetch heavy prices at the moment. In the future many hope there will be other hardware options but right now and here it is positive to be able to run OS4 on something else than the AmigaOne motherboards relased back in 2002 or 2003 which have not been available for quite a long time now.
So let us focus on AmigaOS4 instead…
Installation of OS4 is relatively easy. During installation of AmigaOS4 I felt slightly lost in the procedures but a quick look in the manual set me off in the right direction. It is the first time in years that I have had to read a printed manual to be able to successfully install software.
Workbench 4 installation takes about 20 minutes and leaves you with a fresh installation with a set of applications in the system partition.
For Amiga users known to previous variants of the Workbench you will most probably feel at home right away. Everything is almost the same way that OS3.9 was, it is just that a lot of essential system patches are already built into the operating system. I noticed directly that opaque window movement was fast, fonts looked great since they are all anti-alized. Icons are colorful and speedy, you still have to wait for them to pop up but they are much faster than I thought GlowIcons where in OS3.9. The overall system is much faster than older variants of Workbench, granted nothing can probably beat a basic four color Workbench 3.0/3.1 installation on a 060 and graphics board equipped Amiga for speed but OS4 is fast with lots of eye candy stock.
As I checked out the newly installed OS4 I noticed a lot of improvements. Going into ‘prefs’ there are now quite a lot of options you can change. Some of the ‘prefs’ programs contains a lot of options, going through them and learning what they each do is going to take some time.
My own motive for getting OS4 was to have a modern Amiga environment without spending a couple of weekends perfecting a “perfect” Workbench 3.9 setup. It is also sort of nice to be able to use a familiar system on faster hardware. I was also very much interested in running classic 68k applications in OS4, Amiga Workbench 4 contains a 68k emulator so that users can run system friendly applications on the PPC chip, a necessity since the 68k chip is not running when OS4 have booted. After a quick test with a couple of favorite programs it is quite clear that running 68k applications in OS4 may or may not be a walk in the park. When it works though expect a massive speedup of the program.
If I have to say something bad about AmigaOS 4 it must be the various degree of compatibility with older native 68k software even though the operating system is running on classic Amiga hardware and not on next generation Amiga hardware. You can not assume that every piece of software is going to be released specifically for OS4 but usually you will find replacement software that does what the old software did in previous versions of Workbench. But then again that leaves the question, if you can not run your old favorite software, why would you want to run OS4 at all? A solution would be to run two system partitions, one for 3.9 and one for 4.0. I would have preferred to only work in OS4 but it is not a perfect world yet.
OS4 is a product for the hardcore Amiga user who is familiar with the operating system. Gamers who lounge for the glorified past of Commodore 16-bit gaming wont find anything useful in this operating system and are better off with an Amiga 1200 with extra memory and a hard drive. It is going to take a bit of dedication to get the most out of AmigaOS 4. Even though the release date is 2007 sometimes it feels as if Workbench is still in 1997 but there is really no reason to argue about bad things in OS4, all positive aspects in OS4 outnumbers them, by a lot.