AmigActive 10/AACD 10.iso/AACD/Information/Guides/AIOIssue35/data/nws2

Text File | 2000-04-19 | 6KB | 171 lines

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{subhead}MorphOS Overview{def}
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AmigaOS on PowerPC
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Are you frustrated that there have been no major steps forward towards an
updated Amiga Operating System since 1993 ?
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Are you are disappointed that the 2 years delayed PowerPC boards didn't
provide a 68k emulation ?
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Are you frustrated that the uncounted numbers of people which were in
control of Amiga Inc., never delivered a new PPC AmigaOS or plan to deliver
something which has almost nothing to do with what you used your amiga for?
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Are you sick of the countless empty words in this market where many people
can't deliver what they promised ?
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The people which formed the face of the Amiga desktop since 1993 by
developing the first
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o 68060 boards in 1994{p}
o Truecolour RTG standard in 1994{p}
o Truecolour picture datatype standard in 1995{p}
o PowerPC boards in 1997{p}
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for the Amiga...
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...will bring you now what you`ve always wished for....{p} {p}
{center}AmigaOS running on PPC in 2000{p}
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{bold}MorphOS in detail{nobold}
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o Under MorphOS a mixed mode *AmigaOS* *runs* as a multithreaded MorphOS
application/driver which allows PPC and 68k software to run transparent in
this extended AmigaOS system.
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To the point, what can be run....{p}
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     o most of your old 68k application software{p}
     o most of your PowerUP PPC software{p}
     o new PPC Amiga programs{p}
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   ... under this new mixed mode AmigaOS.
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You can replace all kinds of programs, libraries and devices
with new PPC AmigaOS versions and they work transparently
for all other software.
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{bold}Now..let's look what has already been done...{nobold}
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o a 99% PPC native Exec to run PPC and 68k AmigaOS programs, libraries,
devices and interrupts. To sum it up..MorphOS`s Amiga compatability is no
simple emulation...no...it`s a *PPC* AmigaOS which also runs 68k
application in its framework.
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-> Isn`t this what you`ve always wanted ?
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o native SCSI drivers for Symbios710 and Symbios770 SCSI Controllers which
cover CyberStormPPC, BlizzardPPC, A4000T and A4091.
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-> Would you like to use emulated scsi drivers if you can get the real
thing ?
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o native utility.library, math libraries.
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o a library/device loader extension which allows you to put PPC versions
next to the 68k version on your disk and the OS takes the native one
automatically.
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-> Easy ppc amigaos plugin extensions which can be done by everybody.
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o native CyberGraphX 5 which was the first AmigaOS RTG and still defines
the Amiga RTG Graphics standard.
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-> Well..I think any word about its meaning to a PPC AmigaOS port is
wasted...
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o a PPC ramdisk: handler.
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-> Have you ever seen >40MB/s memory from your ramdisk ?
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o a PPC CDRomFilesystem with MultiSession and Boot support.
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-> just a nice extension.
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o a PPC 31Khz VGA CVisionPPC driver to see the early bootmenus, shells on a
modern monitor without the need for scandoublers.
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-> Anybody else out there which provides this ?
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o PPC picture, gif, ilbm, pbm, pcx datatypes.
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-> a real speed advantage for your backdrops:-)
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o Everybody out there will be able replace more modules or functions with
native version. It gives you a new playfield to improve your own amigaos.
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{bold}...what applications have been ported ?{nobold}
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o a lot PowerUP applications work anyway and most often faster than before.
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o PPC Boberg lha version. The *most* used amiga tool.
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{bold}...how easy is it to port AmigaOS applications ?{nobold}
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o A development package based on gcc, automatic include converters and
example srcs is provided.
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o It took just 10 minutes to port a datatype after the datatype framework
base was there...the pbm ppc example is included. Porting a ram-handler
took about a day with a lot source changes as it was an older 1.3 rooted
src and it took *2* test boots into MorphOS to get it running. This should
tell experienced developers that it`s quite easy if the source is based on
C and it`s clean enough.
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{bold}...and what will come ?{nobold}
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o PPC MUI (Magic UserInterface) conversion has already started
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Yes..It`s true...no joke
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-> Imagine what a speed improvement this will give all MUI applications out
there...expecially Web Browsers which are already more than usable under
the current system.
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o Vapor with PPC versions of their portfolio which will result into a
native amitcp and other internet applications.
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o Titan will support MorphOS with BurnIt, Elastic Dreams, Fantastic Dreams
and Candy Factory.
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o and even more will come...
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o MorphOS takes over the machine directly after a reset and the 68k is
completely disabled. No nonsense like a 68k being used as an interrupt
server. The AmigaOS`s hardware configuration is done by the MorphOS Hal so
it`s no design problem to extend it for a new system besides writing some
drivers.
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o MorphOS kernel is named Quark and offers the functionality for services
like MP, SMP and VM. It can be the base for a new modern OS which
implements the good things from AmigaOS but forgets about the bad things.
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o MorphOS emulation design is portable which means it could be moved to
other OS`es or even other CPUs as the structure of the 68k emulation is
very flexible while being as fast as possible. Just the 68k emulation
itself contains over 13MB of srcs and results into >3MB binary. It`s based
on extensive use of C macros which can be replaced by C asm inline code to
optimize for specific target cpus like it`s done now for the PPC. 68k
Registers are directly mapped to PPC registers and the whole system can be
adapted to other CPUs on the fly if the need is there.
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o MorphOS is currently alpha tested by selected developers. If you think
you have the special skills to help testing it and you want to contribute
native applications contact us at [e-mail] or [e-mail].
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A public user demo versions is comming within the next few months.
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You can find all current information for MorphOS at:
{center}http://www.morphos.de{p}
http://www.morphos.ch {p}
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Do you think anybody else out there in this remaining "market" has such
technology in his hands ?
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