What Do We Want? (AOS4.x)

I read the "... when ?" thread and got quite upset about the attacking commentary.


NO AOS4.x developer needs to defend themselves over what it doesn't/can't do yet.... It's beyond outstanding, what has been achieved (based on all the insurmountable problems they've been exposed to/had to overcome).... for all intents and purposes we HAVE a working; functional OS.


Sure we need unicode.... can we live without it? I think we can, but then I'm not a master programmer, nor user either, so what do I know?

Open source???? You must be kidding! The LAST thing I want is 8 to 15 versions of AOS where you constantly need the right compile of program xyz!!!

Multi-user?!? Use another OS, please! This is the LAST OS of this type. Leave it simple, yet at the same time incredibly versatile and quick. (Create a custom CD/DVD or CF card, and boot off of those if you want privacy.)

Uptime? Well, we WANT long uptime, undeniably..... BUT, AOS4.x is currently in a state of flux too much for that. It isn't quite where the coders of it want it to be, so of course there are more bumps in the road ahead.

Memory protection? I don't know much about that, but DO believe that much of what AOS was capable of in the past was only because it was using what ever memory model it was using before. As long as people know how to code following the rules, these aren't things we users need to worry about. So, it comes down to, are the shareware and commercial programmers competent or not, is really the question. I think that more is possible in the old memory system. It's worked for 21 years, I don't see the problem.


We have an OS, and now simply need native applications to become available. We need a new source of HW.


The reason I'm (still) here is because it IS the best OS I've ever used, and was and still is the most UNDER EXPLOITED OS available!


What's been done so far is perfect for it to continue expanding by induviduals' sweat of their brows. Now I need a Basic, like the one Sidewinder and SamaraiCrow are working on. AmosBasic. I tried SDLBasic and it locked up the computer (A1XE, AOS4 rel. 4). I got pthreads and had it in the right directory but it wouldn't work.



Yes, there is much, much, much more that is still possible!!!!!



(And if we had cheap HW, we'd have a minimum 10 million user base!!!)

@Atheist

I could not agree more, except for the unicode bit (but that is small cheese).

AOS4 is my preferred OS, alas I have suspended using it until things are sorted out.

When all the legal fuss started, I went around looking for a potential replacement - an OS that could do what I wanted and fit where I saw potential - I found none - not a single one that came close to it. There were some candidates that if changed might do the job, but none without making substantial change.

At the moment, re the multi-user potential, I walk around with a USB that contains my major XP apps and critical data, thanks to PotableApps.com. How much better to walk around with my entire OS environment - that is multi-user the Amiga way.

I have to laugh when people do bring up multi-user functionality when they mean emulating the God awful systems used on Windows and Linux systems that load everything centrally, make huge demands for upkeep, and make it difficult if not impossible to run 'foreign" apps. OS4 has dozens of ways of becoming a Multi-User system without changing too much at all and doing it much better IMHO than the big boys have down with their mainframe-logic.

I have loaded Ubuntu Linux on my PS3, it is one of the better linux's, yet switching from Sony Game OS, and closing down remind me of loading Windows - no turning off like Sony Games OS or OS4, no quick booting either.

There the heritage of mainframe is very obvious, packages get installed and disappear into the belly of the beast, files cannot be edited because of root privileges (and in Ubuntu the root account is sealed off, so it is all command line just to unlock a file). It is not an OS I could recommend for installing and then using, that is to normal users who want to be doing things with apps rather than endless fiddling with the OS itself.

Yes OS4 needs more development. But does memory protection really become all that important? Seriously a badly behaved app, should not be on the system, so I favour some protection, but not much more, it is not such a big problem in a quick booting system. If it can be brought in without sacrifice, fine, but it is not all that important (a list of well behaved apps, and known baddies would perhaps be more useful in a practical and immediate way).

The only big change needed is a proper AREXX replacement, that is not JAVA or Python - LUA or REBOL would fite very well indeed (versatile, data handlers, like AREXX, simple syntax with no specials, and have not become a series of special cases like Python).

The next thing is porting to PS3 - come-on folks there IS a market where OS4 as it is fits so well into the turn-off anytime quick booting Sony Game OS environment in a box that flies.

We have enough to begin with and the X11 server buys us a lot of time to develop native apps, by filling in the holes (all I would like here is n X11 app window that otherwise acts as a normal Amiga APP rather than the present mini-os screen (but we can live with that also).

Sorry for the long rant.