Comments on: Why Linux is the new Amiga

By: chr

chr — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:30:47 +0000

Writing this on an Sam440 with Amiga OS 4.1. So we are still here ;)

By: ari-free

ari-free — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 05:23:19 +0000

I knew amiga was going to die. When? The day I saw, in Byte magazine, (Dec 1990) a picture of an amiga 3000 running UNIX

By: Yonah

Yonah — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:55:44 +0000

No way. The greatest thing about the Amiga, was the very idea behind the machine. It was the result of using NEW ideas. Far from Linux, which recycled an old operating system and concepts. The Amiga was a giant leap forward in both hardware and software design, and it’s user base mostly used this advantage for creative pursuits, an area I find Linux users to be sorely lacking in.

Some Amiga fans may have indeed been smug and arrogant, but they were a lot better educated and informed than today Linux fans, who continually lie, deceive, and badger others. The Amiga is dead, and while it’s a part of my past I look back on fondly, it’s distasteful you would soil it’s name by comparing ANY part of it to Linux.

By: JohnDoe2365

JohnDoe2365 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:46:20 +0000

I don’t know whether linux is the new amiga or not, but at a very primitive level wouldn’t it be fair at least to say that Amiga had the first virtualisation feature with its RAMdisk facillity? ;)

By: Raffaele

Raffaele — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 10:06:52 +0000

I think you all should learn about AROS (AmigaOS Open Sourced).

http://www.aros.org

And try a look at AROS running native, or even running hosted in Linux, or even try LIVE CD AROS (which boots from CD and does not require any insallation)

Remember: Check for correct Installation Image File, or CD ISO (X86 32bit, X86 64bit) in the download list of AROS versions on right top of the AROS site.

By: JohnDoe2365

JohnDoe2365 — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:59:56 +0000

Steve, and all the others that deep inside them stems a more than obvious feeling of bitterness on Linux, face the facts, Linux has the feeling that someone actually controls many more things in his computer, while in Windows there are too many to mention processes, which cause people to think and search and search with no end. Now, would you be using a coffee machine, if you knew that there would be a lead pipe that your nice smelling coffee pours through it? Then why the heck would someone need to find backdoor trojans and other cute little thingies running in your 1000 dollar PC? I don’t know about you, but I like linux :)

As far as the windows-concept is concerned, it has been a while long before Microsoft Windows appeared, so please try to have an open mind in this. What Microsoft does is to have an open eye on the market today and before and add stuff to make things more available to the many, BUT WITH THEIR OWN RULES. And I have only one lifetime, and I don’t want to lose it exclusively learning how to program (!) in .NET. There is just too much out there to be bothered for. Now, I am not against Microsoft in any way whatsoever. I am just against what the guy in his article noted: taking sides. Besides Microsoft people make a living just like any developer out there, indipendant, small corporate etc. It’s good sometimes to remind them, we (the consumers and fans) what offering services is all about, by ‘punishing them’ with searching for alternatives. If not, then it is a one man’s game and the end of civilization as we know it, or a dull life, your pick!

Wonderful article, many thanks!

By: Edwin

Edwin — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 06:17:22 +0000

I’m not going to ask you to shut up, Steve. May I make the suggestion to try some other distros? I recommend PCLinuxOS 2007 and Kubuntu 7.10; both works fine on my aging Toshiba Tecra8000 notebook (I’m going to try it on my Asus F5R when I can find the time). The only reason I still have a WindowsXP partition in my hard drive is to run some of the games that I still can’t play in Linux even with Wine emulator (sorry, I’m not going to suggest Cedega). Apart from that one setback, I find PCLinuxOS 2007 an easy-to-use and reliable OS.

One thing I like about Linux is that it works nicely for both those who prefer command-line and those who prefer GUI.

I like Amiga myself, but hey, let’s face the fact. It’s dead. Let the dead stay dead, and make way for the new generation.

By: Ken

Ken — Wed, 23 May 2007 21:01:22 +0000

Personally, I don’t care if the Linux market penetration grows at all if it means turning into Windows. Does Linux have drawbacks? Certainly, I’m unaware of any OS that doesn’t. I agree the BSOD is a relic of pre2000 Windows. However, I would put the need to go to the command line in Linux in the same boat. It’s quite amusing to read about the difficulty folks have installing Linux on their MS rigs. If you want a true comparison, you would need to use a machine with Linux preinstalled from a vendor. Then you can tell me the frequency of the horrid command line. What would happen if I gave you the same machine and told you to install Windows with no driver cd from the manufacturer? I don’t think granny would know what to do when the new hardware found box comes up asking for the driver. I guess she could go to the device manager and stare at the yellow exclamation point. Let’s take one of those “Supercharge your Windows” articles and count how many times you need to edit registry settings. Or going to Symantec’s website and reading about manual removal of malware (remember we are installing Windows from a retail disk, no antivirus). I doubt removing a file from the system 32 folder, going to Regedit and drilling down 30 entries would thrill granny. Is using the run function from the start menu using the command line?
I bet granny would let out a scream and reinstall Linux.

By: AnonymousLeaveMeAlone

AnonymousLeaveMeAlone — Sun, 13 May 2007 08:52:05 +0000

I was an Amiga fan boy!

1. Amiga was cool for it’s time.
2. I don’t ever remember hearing anything about a conspiracy. I just remember thinking business people were dumb because they didn’t think the Amiga would make a better business computer.
3. What you describe is actually the Apple computer user! No wait! It’s the Windows user also! Everyone thinks the OS they us is the best. This is because as individuals we like to think we are the smartest, especially in geek society.

I remember when the Amiga came out. All the magazines were saying that a business computer didn’t need graphics or multimedia support. Now every machine out there plays movies, music, and games. The funny thing is that these same type of magazines and web-sites are saying that Linux isn’t a good choice for the desktop. Who hires these people?! They should hire me. At least my predictions are usually close.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 06:16:32 +0000

“Commodore failed because because the folks running it weren’t very good at running a company. They couldn’t keep up with the competition. They weren’t competitive and they lost the innovator’s edge. They were more interested in salaries and bonuses than with moving their products from niche status.”

Commodore failed because of poor management not because of the lack of innovation, they were so far ahead of the competition at the time, their failure was primarily caused by bad decisions made by the CEO Mehdi Ali & his team who basically ran the company into the ground.

He cancelled the A500, the first most popular Commodore Computer to be discontinued. The A600 replaced the A500 offering users less but nobody wants one because the A1200 is superior, the problem with the A1200 is that there wern’t enough to go around & Commodore had already lost millions. Commodore introduced the CD32 but it was too late as they had only made about 100,000 units which wasn’t enough to save the company & at the time, they owed too much money and couldn’t buy enough parts to build a constant supply of them. Mehdi and his team also managed to sabotage the deal with Sun Microsystems & disuade them from licensing the Amiga UNIX platforms to use as their low-end UNIX solution…