What Is An Amiga?
by Ron Schwartz
AmiTech-Dayton Gazette, March 2003
Have you ever thought about just what the definition of Amiga is in this day and time? Go back a generation and it's no problem to define. Amiga was a family of computers that led the industry with its graphics capabilities and many other features that most of the computer industry is only now capable of duplicating and some it still is not able to fully match. It was also one of, if not the, most efficient operating system for desktop computers. For a while after the demise of Commodore, there was no progress, but, at least, the last generation of Amiga computers continued to be manufactured and available. There is an ever dwindling community of supporters that continue to use and support the Amiga, and they are the reason I have asked this question. Given the current circumstances, I find the loyalty to the name Amiga among a significant portion of the community amazing.
If we look first at the operating system, even though the updates of the Amiga OS have been done by different organizations at different times, it has evolved from the original Amiga OS. Even so, I am sure that 0S4, since it is being significantly altered to not only cease to address the 680XX CPUs and move on to the PPC CPUs, but also to no longer separately address the custom chips. Was not the fact that the use of the custom chips in the original Amigas, that could perform their functions in parallel with the CPU, one of the things that gave the Amiga a leg up on its competition in graphics and sound. So, if the new PPC Amiga processes everything serially through the main CPUs, have we not lost something that is truly Amiga?
In parallel with the development of Amiga 0S4, have been several other OSs that were evolved by various groups within the Amiga community in attempts to upgrade the Amiga OS after the Commodore bankruptcy. Not the least of these were MORPH OS and AROS. MORPH OS is, apparently, significantly ahead of Amiga 0S4 since it is currently available for sale and updates have already been incorporated to correct problems. 0S4 is currently predicted to finally be available for sale in the September, October time frame. While it appears AROS still requires some development, it is the only one of the Amiga-like OSs that is currently multi-platform. It is currently available for the X86 (PC), 690XX (Amiga) and Palm platforms and they are currently seriously considering developing a version for the PPC.
On the hardware side, things are a bit confusing because they seem to be in a process of constant change. The Amiga One motherboard and the motherboard for the Pegasos, developed for use with MORPH OS, initially were both slightly modified versions of MAI Logic92s Teron PPC motherboard that is also marketed directly by MAI Logic as the Teron and by Terra Soft as the Boxer ATX for use with LINUX OS. From here it gets confusing and I have had trouble getting a clear picture of what has happened. Apparently there were some problems with one of the chips on the motherboard. The problems were discovered earlier on the Amiga boards and some action taken that was thought to solve the problem. When it came to light on the Pegasos boards, they obtained a supply of the chips to insure they had good ones available, but they decided to limit the number of the initial boards to be completed and to initiate a redesign of the motherboard and change to another company to provide them. So there are a limited number of the Pegasos I boards available and the redesigned Pegasos II is predicted to be available this fall. They plan to provide a trade in option for those purchasing the Pegasos I boards to allow them to be traded in for the Pegasos II for a reasonable additional amount. In the interim, I have heard rumors that the chip problems may have reoccurred with the Amiga One requiring further action on their part, but nothing definite.
Here we go again. This month, as I sort through the various web sites to see what is going on in the Amiga world, it seems that for every step forward, there is an equivalent step backwards. With the problems discussed above in getting both the Amiga One/0S4 and Pegasos/MORPHOS to market or solving their problems, it will be sometime this fall before these product combinations are fully available, assuming all goes well. The encouraging part is that I am continually seeing reports of various software programs being ported to the new systems, although it seems I see more reports of items being ported to MORPHOS. It is also very difficult to know, when you see reports on things that appear to be happening, what is real and what is unfounded rumor. Only when you see a report on a reputable web site that comes from the people actually responsible for the product can you be relatively confident that it is actually happening.