<B>Amiga OS 3.5 Frequently Asked Questions</B><BR>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
FAQs for week ending 16 Oct., compiled from 1400 questions, many with multiple parts.
<P>
<B>Q. When will it be available?</B><BR>
A. We hope to release OS3.5 during the first half of 1999.
<P>
<B>Q. How much will it cost?</B><BR>
A. We are still working on the pricing strategy and will
unveil it once it is set. It will be competitive with existing
upgrades.
<P>
<B>Q. Why do I have to buy a CD ROM?</B><BR>
A. CD Rom drives have been standard on all other platforms
for about five years now. It is THE number one feature most requested
by developers to allow them to produce richer, more feature laden apps.
OS3.5, due to its feature enhancements and additions has also grown to
a point where the nbr of floppy disk required is becoming restrictive.
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<B>W. Why do I have to buy OS3.1 ROMs?</B><BR>
A. OS3.5 is built on top of the OS3.1build.
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<B>Q. Will there be OS3.5 ROMs?</B><BR>
A. Either -
<P>
OS3.5 will run on top of OS3.1 ROMs using the Jumpstart functionality set. However,
there will be an OS3.5 ROM image, which is being created for the OS5Dev classic card.
Third parties have already contacted us about building third party plug in ROM solutions.
<P>
Or -
<P>
Amiga Inc will not manufacture OS3.5 ROMs. The OS3.1 ROMs provide an acceptable basis for the
Upgrade, rewarding those who upgraded to OS3.1 and providing an affordable product for the community. A ROM only upgrade would have cost substantially more and defeat the object of making OS3.5 the universal standard for the classic machines.
<P>
<B>Q. Why can't OS3.5 supply an OS3.1 ROM image, and softkick from
that?</B><BR>
A. Not all Amigas allow for softkicking.
<P>
<B>Q. Will there be a bundled deal with OS3.5 and OS3.1 ROMs?</B><BR>
A. This is a matter for <A HREF="http://www.amiga.de">Amiga
International</A>, the sales and marketing arm
of Amiga. Please contact them for more information.
<P>
<B>Q. Will OS3.5 support DVD, JAZ, ZIP, LS120 etc etc?</B><BR>
A. OS3.5 is a transitional release. We aim to provide a feature set that takes maximum
Advantage of the existing third party product range. However, being a transitional release,
We see no point in providing a lot of new functionality for next generation devices when they
Will be catered for in the Next Generation Amiga product range. For those who need such functionality
Now, then there are plenty of third party products that can provide that functionality.
<P>
<B>Q. Will there be multi-user support in OS3.5?</B><BR>
A. No. This is something we are considering for the Next Generation products.
<P>
<B>Q. Is OS3.5 interfering with the Next Generation plans?</B><BR>
A. No. These projects are being worked on by separate teams.
<P>
<B>Q. Will we get industry standards such as QuickTime, Acrobat, Java and Real Audio in
OS3.5?</B><BR>
A. Again, these are products that define open standards for video, documents, hardware indpendent code
and streamed audio. Each requires a lot of work to implement and most will be seen in our next generation
product. However it is unlikley they will appear in OS3.5 since it is a transitional upgrade and we need to
concentrate our resouces on the future.
<P>
<B>Q. Will there be improvements to Arexx?</B><BR>
A. We are working with a major commercial developer to add functionality to
Arexx.<P>
<B>Q. Are you going to use New Icons for OS3.5?</B><BR>
A. No, we are rewriting the icon.library and will be using he artistic talents of Matt Chapat,
The man responsible for the Glow Icon set.<P>
<B>Q. Which language catalogues will be supported in OS3.5?</B><BR>
A. We are working with the ATO to provide the maximum possible localisation coverage.
<P>
<B>Q. Will OS3.5 support the OCS/ECS chipset?</B><BR>
A. Yes, but to get the best out of OS3.5, we recommend AGA or a graphics board.
<P>
<B>Q. Will Workbench be multithreaded?</B><BR>
A. Modifying Workbench is a difficult task. Multithreading is one of the features we would obviously like to add but we may not have enough time to implement this feature. It is being worked on though.
<P>
<B>Q. Will OS3.5 support the Toaster/Flyer?</B><BR>
A. As long as the toaster/flyer follows OS legal coventions then there should be no problem. We will be testing this thoroughly though to make sure.
<P>
<B>Q. How compatible will OS3.5 be with the Next Generation Amiga?</B><BR>
A. There will be no compatibility. The two products, whilst sharing many of the philosophies and design ideals will be completely different. We hope to ship a full OS3.5 emulator with the Next Generation products, to allow users software investment to be safeguarded.
<P>
<B>Q. With all the programs and patches released and sold over the years, what will OS 3.5 offer
current users that we don't already have - other than the official Amiga Name on
it?</B><BR>
A. OS3.5 will offer integration of many features that have been requested for years, and which have been implemented as hacks and patchs. Whilst it is true that we will not reinvent the wheel where we don't have to, we will also provide significant new features and enhancements. This is much more than just a bundle of past products.
<P>
<B>Q. Will the manuals be available as books?</B><BR>
A. The OS3.5 product will not ship with paper manuals, since this adds considerably to price
And shipping. However, we are open to third party publishing opportunities.
<P>
<B>Q. When will there be screenshots of the new look for me to see?</B><BR>
A. There will be a weekly update to the site, both FAQs and latest news. As the project progresses,
we will release sneak peeks, screen grabs and detailed feature lists. However, it is our policy to work through the magazines so please subscribe if you want to see such things as early as possible. For those of you in such outposts of humanity as Barrie, Ontario though, the screenshots will find their way to the site, just a few weeks after the magazines get them.
<P>
<B>Q. Can I pre-order OS3.5?</B><BR>
A. Please refer to Amiga International for this information.
<P>
<B>Q. Will there be special versions optimised for different CPUs?</B><BR>
A. No. People expect a performance
boost from a "processor specific version" very much in the same way as
was observed in the past with special '020 versions of a program vs
plain 68k versions of a program. The '020 programming model offers new
addressing modes and arithmetic instructions which on the 68000 need to
be emulated by far more instructions (for example, the '020 has a 32
bit integer multiplication instruction, the 68000 can only multiply 16
bit integers). Why is a custom '020 version better than a plain 68k version?
The '020 version is more compact than the plain 68k version since it
can use special instructions which on a plain 68k CPU would require
"emulation code". Since the code is more compact and the instructions
execute faster than the 68k emulation code, such programs usually
perform better. Why does it make little sense to create custom
'030/'040/'060 versions? All these processors use the same user instruction
set as the '020, they just run it faster.
<P>
<B>Q. How will one utilize an updated filesystem and scsi.device without a ROM
upgrade?</B><BR>
The JumpStart solution; and for those who don't have confidence
in this solution, there's the option to use soft-kicking where applicable.
<P>
<B>Q. Will the OS 3.5 installation correctly handle systems with CyberGraphX
installed?</B><BR>
A. Our installation script will leave existing RTG setups alone, as far as
is possible. Some of these RTG solutions are launched from the User-Startup
or even the Startup-Sequence. We can't keep them all alive, I'm afraid. So
our installation script will try to move monitor drivers, etc. out of the
way after installing the 3.5 update. The user will have to reactivate those
drivers manually.
<P>
<B>Q. Will OS3.5 allow me to view all screens, including the 15kHz screens, on my
VGA monitor, without adding extra hardware?</B><BR>
A. No. VGA monitors won't sync unless the minimum vsync frequency is 31 kHz.
That's a hardware feature and not something you can do in software.
<P>
<B>Q. Will there be any form of Memory Protection?</B><BR>
A. No. The Amiga model was constructed on the basis of trust, one of the reasons it is so fast. To add memory proper memory protection would involve a substantial rewrite, precisely the sort of thing we looked at when working out a strategy for the next generation OS. If you want memory protection, buy the next generation products when they come out.
<P>
<B>
Q. If all software is on the CD, how are you going to boot into the system if the Harddisk is corrupted or the Startup-sequence has read error?
</B><BR>
A. OS3.5 is an upgrade, not a miracle worker. This has nothing to do with the software being on CD-ROM. You install the software from CD and then keep it on hard disk. If your startup-sequence has a read error or your hard disk drive is corrupted, how do you boot into the system today? You can't, that's what a corrupted
hard disk drive or an unreadable startup-sequence implies.
<P>
<B>Q. Requirements include MC 68020. Which parts of the update will be specifically compiled for the faster processor and will benefit from higher
speed?</B><BR>
A. Specifically compiled: as much ROM code as possible. Benefit from higher speed: the entire operating system (as was always the case).
<P>
<B>I like what I read about OS 3.5. Now, I have just purchased DOpus Magellan for it's usefulness as a workbench replacement. Will OS 3.5 make this purchase
redundant?</B><BR>
A. No. DOpus is much more than a WB replacement, and M2 promises to offer even more features and
(Future Publishing)(GB)(Track 1 of 3)[!][issue 1999-04].iso/-websites-/amigainc/3.5/faqs.gif){kind=link}