So what should we be compiling for....

Hi everybody,

Just playing around with Vice the other day and as it's not complete yet (missing dialogues) I was thinking of having a quick hack at the missing features myself. This got me to wondering....

Should we (I) be compiling anything for AmigaOS 3.x as well as AmigaOS 4.0? Surely we want more people to adopt the 'new standard' but there are still a number of users out there who can't afford or get AOS 4 capable machines.... For that matter, should I be compiling for WarpOS too?

Note that doesn't refer to Vice itself as the authors are doing a grand job on that anyway, I'm thinking more about other programs.

As a (related) side-note - I've found a tutorial on UtilitityBase.com which tells me how to install a cross-compiler for AmigaOS 4 under a un*x system (i.e. MacOS X and/or Cygwin, Linux et al) - what should I do to be able to cross-compile for AmigaOS 3.x (m68k and preferably WarpOS as well as I like speed. :) ) - anyone got any handy pointers?

Thanks all. :)

Right now I'm compiling my programs for both 3.x and 4.0.

Yes please.. Do compile for WarpOS.. I use warpOS on a daily bases, and it makes my classic miggy quite fast, which is nice of coz ;)

the more the merrier! ;)

I am thinking about going over to compile OS4 only.

The thing is that I on the one side can't use any
of the new features for a 3.x build.
And by now ignoring the extended feature-set of
OS4 would be a shame.

And since I switched over to Reaction I have the problem
that for my use of it there are way too many bugs
or flaws in the old 68k classes that will never be fixed.
Some can be worked around, some not.

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I do hope so.... While I am interested in AmigaNG for now I have to make do with my A500 and A600-30 HD. It would be a shame if we don't see any development or updates at all.

Since i have only an a1 working i'm only compiling for os4.

I think it depends on the application, if we have features in the OS waiting to be used then I think we should try using them, we should not try to avid using new features just to say backwards compatible, the future is OS4.x so we better get every one migrating to it, but I guess we can always put out some demo versions for OS3.x.

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It doesn't have to be "compiling". Thingies like rexx can be combined with mui and use comman-line stuff for performing various tasks.
And it is "portable". You can even write things like streaming radio player in rexx (using rxsocket.library). I wouldn't believe it untill I found it on Aminet. Adding a gui to it was the most obvious thing to do. No compiling there. It uses mpega to play the stream. When I get my A1 back from the oblivion I'll combine it with mplayer and here you have a radio player that can play everything. Without compiling. Didn't I said that already?

The point is dont' start things from scratch if there're ready pieces of software lying around and waiting to be combined. Big stuff such as office suite/web browser/etc won't go that way.

Jack
Edit::typos

I mostly compile OS4 only and sometimes, when it makes sence and it's not too much extra work, I also compile for m68k. More often than not I test the m68k compiles under OS4's JIT emulation since I'm too lazy to start up UAE just for this.

I don't compile for other platforms since they are not available to me so I have no way of testing if it works. At least someone would have to request a port and volunteer to do any necessary testing first before I will bother.

Anyway, I include source codes with most of my stuff, and it's OK by me if anyone wants to port any of the programs to some other OS just as long as they give proper credit and do not try to claim the whole work as their "own".

IMHO all developers should compile for OS4 first hand.
Then if possible or without too much hassle a OS3
compile aswell.
After all we want Amiga NG to succeed don't we? If it
fails then classics will die completely sooner anyway.

OS3.5/3.9 is the usual target platform of software I write. I can't compile for PPC architectures as I use UAE or A1200/060. There's also source code so that others can compile/port for OS4.0/MorphOS/AROS/PowerUP/WarpUP/Amithlon/whatever ...It's difficult to support effectively 7 platforms.

Hi,

i am ATM a classic user only .. [waiting of new HW ;) ]
But musst say ->

Compile for OS4 and the new feutures FIRST and then for 68k....
Miss realy the new Angband and OpenTTD ports on 68k ... but
understand the reason :)

R-TEAM

This kind of echoes what I've been thinking - OS 4 first and then if it's easy enough, the OS 3.x version.

Is there a version of GCC that I can run to cross-compile for WarpOS and m68k? Particularly the former as I like emulators and obviously the 68060 struggles with C-based emulators and complicated machines.

Incidentally I have a number of machines to test on, so I don't need any external testers, but thanks. :)

Quote:
AFAIK there are none, you'd have to build them yourself. The m68k GeekGadgets GCCs do work on AmigaOS4 with the OS4 ixemul.library 51.x, it's of course slower than a PPC native cross-compiler would be, but it's fast enough (much faster than on any m68k Amiga) and works, for example I build the AmigaOS 3.x/m68k versions of SmartFileSystem that way.

You just have to wait until the PPC native OS4 ixemul.library is released ...
(m68k version of ixemul.library can't work on a PPC AmigaOS, it works for some very simple ixemul.library programs, but not for something like GCC, make, ksh, etc. which use the *fork(), signal, etc. functions of ixemul.library.)

Or use VBCC instead, VBCC supports cross-compiling for all supported targets.

I am currently only compiling for OS4, but then again I only really started doing much coding since having my A-One and OS4.

I did once write some stuff for OS3 in HiSoft BASIC but that is unlikely ever to be finished as HiSoft BASIC and anything written with it refuses to run on OS4.

All my coding has been invoilved with converting OS3 software to OS4, to either fix problems or add features missing in the older versions. So OS3 versions do exist already, just older ones.

I personally think it is time to move on and leave OS3 for dead and concentrate on the future of the Amiga OS rather than compile for every variant and emulation of the OS that exists.

So my main concentration is OS4 only. IF it is possible and not too much effort I may compile for OS3 but not having any OS3 nor Morphos machines to test such a compile on I would not guarantee it working nor be able to give support to any cross compiles. Someone else said similar earlier about the importance of actually having the machines to test your stuff. My A1200 gave up long ago and had not been switched on for ages since OS4 was available on my A One.

Also when porting OS3 to OS4 one thing you can do is remove many of the limitations that the older versions had due to using old hardware and a less featured OS, so why look back

Some work in progress screenshots of my OS4 project can be seen at http://www.eavesweb.plus.com/testpage

Anyone wanting to run DU on 68k can always get version 1.03 which has been available for a long time at http://www.syz.com but don't expect that version to perform anything like the PPC native 1.5 version. That is an old version for old hardware and thus written in a limited way appropriate for the times. Likewise the PPC version expects an 800MHz G4 or similar as base level and 16 or 32 bit screenmodes only. An OS3 compile would probably be a waste of effort for little gain.

Let's look to the future not the past.


Bill.

Hi,

@BillE

It is full clear, a big project make no sense to backport
to OS3.x.

But cli tools and apps/Games that dont need CPU power
to much are viable to port back ..

The from me mentoned angband need no cpu power , the new openttd
port is another thing ... he needed for use the new feutures
more power as a classic 060 ..
But to play on standard maps on network [this is with the
actual 68k version not working] it was fine ..

Games like battleOfWesnot.. who the AOne musst hard work to
run the game smooth is naturaly out of question ..

And nice work with DU .. i like the screen-shots ;)

R-TEAM

Well, as an AmigaOS 3.9 user I would still love to see people supporting us.

I wonder how many 3.9 users there are vs. 4.0 users. Though I believe it not realistic to support older versions of the OS forever, I believe 3.9 support should continue for the most part at least until AOS4.0 is generally available for people to migrate

Yeah, keep in mind that OS4 hasn't actually been officially released yet, the current official AmigaOS version is OS3.9. So that needs to still be fully supported. Also keep in mind that total AmigaOne production ever is in the range of a few thousand, and with no AmigaOne emulator available, this means that the OS4 userbase is likewise restricted to a few thousand, which cannot possibly increase since the machines which can run it have all been discontinued.

Whereas over 8 million classic Amigas have been sold, and anyone with a modern IBM-PC is able to run UAE, which means a potential userbase of hundreds of millions.

Not a very difficult decision if you ask me.

@Minuous

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Pardon me? It IS officially released on 24. December 2006.

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It is not supported by anyone. H&P is out of business basically, they are just selling off their finished product. There is no future for 3.x, only past. I think it is easy to decide...