This is a sales pitch for a "Craptastic OS". It doesn't belong on the list. Please Nannie's?
John Carmonne Yorba Linda CA 92886 USA MacPro 2.66 Quad Nehalem On Jan 6, 2012, at 6:11 PM, David W. Morris wrote: > > On Jan 6, 2012, at 5:14 PM, Len Gerstel wrote: >> >> This list is the G3-5 List. It is usable software agnostic. Since MOST >> people on the list run Mac OS, that is what the main knowledge base is. >> There are other lists with more knowledgable *nix people on them. >> >> That being said, *nix talk is allowed, but remember, most people on the list >> don't have a lot of knowledge or interest there. >> >> Just remember, this is not the Swap List. >> >> Len Gerstel >> List Nanny > > > That is good to know. I am just trying to be a good list member and not step > on anyone's toes here, so that is why I am being careful with any discussions > about alternative OSes for these G4 Mac models. > > I'll try to keep this as brief as possible, with respect to others on the > list that have no interest in using an alternative OS on their G4 Mac > computers, after all MacOSX is the best OS available on any hardware. ;-) > > The alternative OS that I am a strong supporter of is called MorphOS and is > currently at version 2.7. It is based on a micro-kernel called Quark and is > tightly coded to make it extremely fast and efficient. It has been dubbed > "The Lightning OS" by many reviewers, and if it is setup as the primary OS on > a G4 Mac computer, it can reboot in less than 10 seconds to a fully > functional desktop environment. MorphOS3.0 is late and should be released > any day now. It has been developed by a small group of mostly European > members who are all former Amiga users who wanted to create a modern Amiga > replacement operating system that would run on PowerPC CPU's. The last and > highest performing Amiga hardware was created by a third party company named > Phase5. They made a few different models of accelerators for Commodore Amiga > computers that had both a Motorola 68040, or 68060 (remember when Mac's only > had Motorola 680x0 CPU's?) and a 603, or 604e PowerPC CPU. The accelerator > came with a modified OS that could run certain software on the PowerPC CPU, > but would then task switch back to the Motorola 680x0 CPU to run the rest of > the Amiga software. It was a clunky solution and came too late, as Commodore > was already on the ropes and about to go bankrupt, but still development > continued long after Commodore died and these people from Phase5, along with > many other Amiga users/developers that would not let the platform die, began > the MorphOS project. It was first hoped that the new owner of the Amiga IP > would buy their work and it would have become the new AmigaOS, which would > have been version 4 (as the official AmigaOS ended at version 3.9). It was > not to be and another company won the negotiations to write AmigaOS4.x and we > now have competing products in the Amiga community. > > Enough on the history lesson. All you need to know about it is that MorphOS > has been under development for over 10 years now and has become a very > polished and efficient operating system, but it still lacks in sheer numbers > of developers and native software, even though it can run most of the > thousands of software titles that were originally written for the Amiga line > of computers through a JIT (Just-In-Time) 680x0 to PPC translator that is > built into the MorphOS operating system. The only Amiga software that does > not run without an emulator on MorphOS, is mostly games and a few other > applications that do not follow the system guidelines and hit the old Amiga > custom chipset directly, as these custom chips do not exist in the computers > (like G4 Mac's) that are supported today by MorphOS. > > MorphOS is not intended as a replacement for MacOSX (except perhaps for only > the most hardcore old time Amiga users). It is what is commonly referred to > as a "Hobby OS" that a few thousand users and developers enjoy using and > mostly only has interest for people that were former users of the Amiga line > of computers, or others that just enjoy exploring alternative operating > systems and software, like the "nix" users. > > This list is a perfect place to promote MorphOS, because it is made up of > people that appreciate older PowerPC hardware and because over the last few > years the MorphOS Development Team has ported MorphOS to several G4 Mac > computer models, such as: > > All G4 MacMini's > 1.25GHz & 1.42GHz G4 eMac's > All G4 PowerMac's with AGP video card slots that are 500MHz or faster (might > even work on 400MHz & faster models) > > When MorphOS3.0 is released (any day now) it will also support 4 models of > the G4 PowerBook and will be the first portable MorphOS compatible systems > (big deal for us). The models that will be supported are model 1107, 1109, > 1138 & 1139, which are all 1.67GHz G4 PowerBooks in 15" and 17" sizes. None > of the 12" G4 PowerBooks are to be supported with the MorphOS3.0 release due > to unsupported video cards used in the 12" models. MorphOS only supports > Radeon video cards in G4 Mac models, so if you have an older G4 PowerMac that > has a different AGP video card, it would need to be swapped for one of the > supported Radeon video cards to be able to run MorphOS on that system. > > Proof of concept screen shots and public demonstrations of MorphOS booting on > a Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac and a 2.1GHz G5 iMac have been shown, but the > MorphOS Development Team has stated that no work on a version to support G5 > computers will be done until they are finished supporting all of the G4 Mac > computer models that make sense to support is completed. > > MorphOS is a commercial OS project (used to be free until about 4 or 5 years > ago) but it is available as a free download for a time limited demo that > allows you to run it unrestricted for 30 minutes at a time, before it slows > down to a crawl and you must re-boot so you can use it for another 30 minutes > at full speed. In this way you can evaluate MorphOS as much as you want > before you decide if it is something you want to buy. > > If you have read this far and would like to know more, check out the official > MorphOS website at "http://www.morphos-team.net/index.html"; or visit one of > the main English MorphOS forum sites at > "http://www.morphzone.org/modules/news/";. Why am I promoting an OS which > only has a tiny user base and limited software availability? Well, the only > way to grow is to promote it to more users and hope to interest a few new > developers, so that is my purpose. I am also teaching myself how to program > so I can contribute with new software, so my favorite "Hobby OS" will succeed > and grow in the future. > > Take a look at MorphOS. It is free to try and you might like what you see, > but I don't expect it to replace your use of MacOSX, as MorphOS still needs a > few more years of development and tons more native software before it could > be considered as a replacement for anything, but with Apple and all third > party software developers abandoning your PowerPC Mac computers, isn't it > nice to know that there is one group of users and developers who are still > supporting G4 Mac computers? > > Thanks for your patience in reading this long post and for any interest you > may share in my favorite hobby. > > David > aka AmigaDave > Dual booting MacOSX & MorphOS2.7 on 1.5GHz G4 MacMini & Dual 1.42GHz G4 > PowerMac MDD, plus dual booting MacOSX & MorphOS3.0 beta on 15" & 17" 1.67GHz > G4 PowerBooks & dual booting MacOSX & Ubuntu PPC v10.10 on a Dual 2.7GHz G5 > PowerMac. > > -- > You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for > those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power > Macs. > The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette > guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
