The Amiga One Computer
First Impressions
by Bill Raecke
Last month at the Amiga-By-The-Loop Chapter meeting, we had our first look at a new Amiga One computer, courtesy of Ned Kelly. (I assume the Amiga-North-Dallas Chapter got to see it as well, but since I wasn't there, I can't be sure.) I came away with distinctly mixed feelings.
The positive? It's nice to see something new happening in the Amiga world. This is the first shot at a new computer in a very long time.
The negative? It's not really an Amiga.
It's a great-looking medium-tower box with chrome trim on the face. But there's nothing about it that looks particularly Amiga-like. In truth, it's a standard box that could hold any number of operating systems and/or hardware components. There isn't an Amiga logo anywhere to be seen. And for an OS, we have Linux � and, oh yes, UAE has been added to run on top of Linux. This is the same UAE that can run on virtually any PC, so there's nothing special here. I am using UAE, as distributed with Amiga Forever, to prepare this newsletter. I don't need an Amiga One computer for that.
And, as long as I am complaining, let me also complain about the UAE distribution. It doesn't come with CyberGraphix or Picasso. One of the nicest things about Amiga Forever, in addition to giving me a really fast Amiga, is that I can run a 1024 x 768 (or greater) 32-bit screen. This makes my simulated Amiga a truly modern computer. Picasso is distributed as part of the Amiga Forever package, but it is not part of the Amiga One distribution � and I find it difficult to understand why. It's true that you can install Picasso on your own, but not including it with the system just makes it much more difficult to get things up and going in a reasonable fashion.
Bottom line? When AmigaOS 4.0 finally ships, Ned will probably have a nice Amiga system. Right now he has a Linux machine.