b3tAmiga on PC?tRokDaZonethpf2s1c08 Any use for a Workbench on PC? f1c09A c10Workbench c09running under c10Windows95 c09on a c10Pentiumc09. A horrorvision for each upright Amiga-user. Is it? To near this topic, we first have to find out about the future policy of c10Amiga Int.c09, regarding future implementations on other systems. As we all know, coming future Amigas shall be developed by c10Amiga Inc.c09, USA. Interesting, however, is that they not necessarily will also manufactured by Amiga itself. Instead, c10Amiga International c09licences newly developed items to whoever is interested under a "powered by Amiga" label. In the end, there shall be a variety of manufacturers that actually build Amigas after the standards set up by c10Amiga Incc09. The main task of Amiga Intl. then will be to maintain compatibility and standards. c10Darrick Lisle c09earlier underlined, if someone wants to use the AmigaOS on any third processor (DEC-Alpha, PowerPC, whatever) that he is invited to work an licence out that would allow them to actually finish the idea they have, thus independantly enlarging the impact of AmigaOS on the computersmarket a weeny bit more. When looking back at c10Computer'97c09, the Italian c10Cloanto c09did a really well job. They delivered a product in a first revisionstate, they only announced one month before the fair. At the moment it is, however, uncertain, if the handling of their Amiga Forever package really is easier and more userfriendly than c10UAE c09like expressed earlier by c10Cloantoc09. Really remarkable is that for the first time in Amiga history, you are able to acquire the complete Amiga Kickstart-ROMs for free use on other systems. f2c08 Back to the Basics f1c09Still, we haven't come to the main point. Only that the background might be cleared a little we stand in front of the question: Is there any use for the Workbench under c10Windows95c09? Moreover: Isn't there the danger that once again a superior system (Amiga) gets swallowed by a monstrous weakening bulk (Windows)? First of all we should recall a little and come to understand that ShapeShifter is exactly using the same technique like c10UAE c09(lateron also c10Amiga Foreverc09). Well, not exactly of course, but the interfacial feeling is the same. You look at your computers label and read Amiga. You look at the screen and see c10MacOSc09. So, from 1997 on it already happened to PC users. Have you ever seen the c10UAE c09under 166MHz? Slow. Slow is the only appropriate word for that experience. Still, this doesn't say anything about the quality or speed of the Intel processor. We only have to see how a C64-emulation (c10Frodoc09) looks under Amiga 68040/40 when understanding that the original C64 had 1.25MHz (or so). Anyway. f2c08 What Does Them Cause to Return? f1c09What is the idea of c10Cloanto c09in releasing c10Amiga Foreverc09? Raise cash, surely. Still, this means that they actually are of the opinion that there is a use for Amiga on PC. Blubb. For what? Nostalgic reasons have to be mentioned before anything else. As strange as it may seem: Whoever once laid his hands on an Amiga - they all return somehow, someday. I may only remind of certain people who have left the Amiga for PC in recent years. For strnage reasons you still find them on #AmigaScne, you still find them on parties celebrating the Amiga. If you tell a typical former Amiga-now-PC gamer that you still own your Amiga, he normally gets weak knees and tell you about endless nights in front of their monitors playing c10R-Type c09or c10Simcityc09. Amiga is more than just a PC, this is factual. Like a old boxer oldsmobile it remains in your heart. It's your first love, your first car, your first marriage. Whatever you do: In the end you will never forget your first sexual intercourse. c08Short: The first fuck rulez. c09Still, nostalgy alone wouldn't pay as it is quite an easy thing to buy a used A500 for DM 100,- (100.000 LIT) and just copy some old games to feel the same spirit than before. There is no need for all the idiotic uncomfortable workouts to get Workbench running on PC. Why having AmigaOS on PC. Maybe the feeling of superiority that creeps insode us when running c10Frodo c09although having a C64 under the cupboard-shelf? Then again, c10Amiga Forever c09is too expensive for such a move. To be exact, the beforementioned theoremes are basically nonsense when compared to what a real Amiga clone could mean for the Amiga. With the new processor generations coming, the OS'ses themselves will get more and more unimportant regarding their simple performance. You see, when starting c10Windows95 c09under 486/33MHz, it takes at least two minutes. Under 233MHz I expect it (although I never fsaw it so far), not to take more than the basic loading time from harddisk, which is not the longest span, I could think of. In the end not the system will survive which is the fastest, but which is the most handy and intuitional to use. This should be AmigaOS or c10TOSc09, but in the end Windows will survive. However, this last sentence indicates that for someone with opened eyes it actually may come to mind that there once was an OS which was superior, which caused fun, which was transparent. f2c08 Clearing Fields f1c09This is the major chance that we have. With a Amiga-compatible release in the forefiled, people might be more tempted to actually use a multiprocessor c10AmigaOS c09on their PC, when it will ever be released. c10UAE c09or c10Amiga Forever c09or whatever teir names might be: they are just the foreskin of the real thing. A ported AmigaOS is the main goal even though no one of us might like to see the Workbench under these conditions. The emulations are the first step into an all systems AmigaOs and although we might not have dreamt of it: The more we support the idea, the higher the chances that actually AmigaOS doesn't grow into oblivinious states. Enough big words. Stick to your Amiga and get others to buy one aswel and you save yourself from discussionslike these.