Amiga to use Linux Kernel

Pseudonymus Bosch writes "Amiga has selected Linux as the OS kernel for the new Amiga Operating Environment that is scheduled for release later this year." I wonder what caused such a sudden about-face. Regardless, I hope Amiga does well, and makes some interesting changes to Linux. Even if they don't go into the mainstream kernel, I'm curious to see what they have up their sleeves. Update: 07/09 12:35 by J : A Letter from Jim Collas which might help explain things.

Oh my dear God!!!

If you thought Linux Advocates were obnoxious now, wait 'til you see the new, improved Linux Amiga Advocate! ;-)

Re:amiga is going to have a hard time

The nifty thing about AmigaOS (and BeOS, for that matter) was the fast message-based IPC mechanism. I suppose they could hack that into the Linux kernel to get them the speed they would need to compete with BeOS, or even hack MkLinux to get them that, but it's not a matter of just taking the normal Linux kernel and plunking it in place. At least if they want "classic" Amiga programs to be re-compilable on this architecture without running like crap.
Sockets just won't get it. I've been doing a lot of work with sockets lately, and they're too bloody slow for the kind of IPC work that BeOS and AmigaOS-Classic do.
But maybe they're just dumping the whole Amiga project and going to become just Yet Another Linux Distribution. Maybe this is how Gateway is going to maintain their relationship with Microsoft while jumping on the Linux bandwagon, i.e., by taking this defunct brand name they bought for near nothing and attaching it to their new Linux line. SIgh.

What a waste of a year

A year ago Amiga made this big announcement about this secret chip that they were in talks with, that had 10 times the power of anything currently on the market. Later that changed into "We're evaluating different options, including the G4".

At the same time they were in talks with BeOS about using their kernel for the new OS (yes, I know this was never public knowledge, but some day someone official will leak this information to the press). Then Amiga pulled out of that deal 'cos Be asked for too much money - so QNX was picked, and announced as "the best technology available". Now even that is down the pan.

So what happened to the statements like "realtime is important to a multimedia OS". I guess it is'nt. And I guess neither is QNX Neutrino's transparent clustering technology (that would have made beowulf look hard to work with). In the meantime Amiga developers drop like flies, as the Classic update gets pushed further and further back, and the specs for it shrink.

So who is going to buy this new Linux box? Not current Linux users for sure - they're happy with what they've got (I know I am). Not current Amiga users - there's nothing to tempt them to buy the new Amiga over and above Linux. I guess they'll have a good shot at the embedded/palm/consumer market. Good luck to them.

Sad really. In all that time we haven't seen one iota of progress from them development-wise. What are they going to do with their current code? Bin it and re-write for X, instead of Photon? (yes, I know the POSIX stuff will be portable). We've seen constant changes in direction. There's no faith left. Today I read comp.sys.amiga.misc for the first time in a while and there's only about 2 people defending Amiga's actions (and only to the extent of "wait and see what they deliver"), compared to many more a year ago.

So, since the only revolutionary stuff is gone (the QNX Neutrino OS) - what's left? An unknown Object model running on top of Linux? I think I'd rather stick with Corba and what I've got right now. What a shame - I was very hopeful a year ago. What a waste of time.

Matt.

(all the above quotes are paraphrased)

perl -e 'print scalar reverse q(\)-: ,hacker Perl another Just)'

Re:What a waste of a year

A year ago Amiga made this big announcement

That's their problem-- they should have never made announcements. But they had to do something to keep up interest. Things change though.

(stuff about BeOS and QNX)

Maybe BeOS asked for too much money, maybe they weren't quite what they wanted. Maybe the original announcement should have been, "We're investigating BeOS, and it looks good." As for QNX, maybe it was the best technology and better than Linux-- but compare the developer bases. I've never heard of QNX (tho granted, I could just be oblivious), but I've sure heard of Linux.

Maybe they have faith that Linux can *become* the best technology with their help.

So what happened to the statements like "realtime is important to a multimedia OS". I guess it is'nt.

Could just be PRspeak. Or, could be that they'll be incorporating realtime themselves or using realtime extensions by other people for Linux.

So who is going to buy this new Linux box?

Me.

Not current Linux users for sure - they're happy with what they've got (I know I am).

No I'm not. I can't run Macromedia Flash or Director, and any multimedia performance under Linux sucks rocks. Love the OS, use it at home, but I still have to boot into Win98 occasionally to do part of my job. (i.e. Flash on the web, CDROMs with Director, QTVR creation, etc, so forth...) I see this as what Amiga might bring to Linux.

Not current Amiga users - there's nothing to tempt them to buy the new Amiga over and above Linux.

Umm... maybe an OS that runs on multiple platforms? Maybe modern hardware? Maybe renewed contemporary commercial support? I've got an Amiga 1200 myself, and let me tell ya, tho it still rivals my current PC in a lot of ways, it's aging.

Sad really. In all that time we haven't seen one iota of progress from them development-wise.

That's what you get with a non-Open project. *Shrug*

What are they going to do with their current code? Bin it and re-write for X, instead of Photon? (yes, I know the POSIX stuff will be portable).

I would like to think that what they have is flexible enough to change easily. (i.e. the object model has low level classes to interface with the low level os and drivers, and so not everything up the line has to be rewritten)

Or maybe, they can use something else. LIke Berlin, or an Amiga windowing system with an X compatibility layer. But that's what I'd like to see, not what I think they might be doing.

We've seen constant changes in direction. There's no faith left.

I have no faith in Amiga. It's a machine. It was a religion, but I'd hope that people have learned. But it seems to have a promise to deliver multimedia to Linux now, and I think that's pretty significant.

So, since the only revolutionary stuff is gone (the QNX Neutrino OS) - what's left? An unknown Object model running on top of Linux? I think I'd rather stick with Corba and what I've got right now.

Hmm, I'm thinking the AmigaObject architecture will be the revolutionary stuff. Corba's just a framework. The AmigaObject environment will be the flesh in the framework. You can already see the seeds of it in the old AmigaOS, with datatypes for multimedia, etc...

Imagine-- a multimedia OS based on objects. Oh, wait, that's BeOS. :) Well, maybe Amiga can do better for Linux.

What a shame - I was very hopeful a year ago. What a waste of time.

*shrug* Let 'em waste their time. Or wait, was that a waste of your time? Ignore 'em and stop worrying. :)

My thing is that my ears perk up whenever I hear of someone trying to make a new operating environment that has concepts newer than 2 decades. Granted, those are tried and true concepts in Linux, but we've got better ideas by now one would hope.