Classicamiga Forum Retro Edition
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Thread: Amiga OS4 only software?
Harrison 11:56 22nd December 2006
Quite a lot of PPC only software exists for PPC accelerated classic Amigas, such as Productivity software, Utilities, Demos and some games, but what software is currently available or in development exclusively for Amiga OS4?

If you know the details of some then please post the details and any links here.
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Buleste 10:24 28th March 2008
Recently i've started to see how usefull OS4 is by trying software thats out there that can be used instead of using a PC. So as one of the most commonly used programmes used after web browser is wordprocessing i thought i'd try one for OS4. As there are no commercial software out there it had to be shareware so i DL'd Abiword which also includes a web browser. then i DL'd the update to Abiword. Then i had to download x11 as Abiword needs this to work. Then i DL'd the x11 update. Thats about 200 MB worth of downloads which considering the size of classic wordprocessing software is a lot. So i run Abiword only to find that x11 and cygnix are another OS which loads before abiword (I didn't know this as i'm not very knowledgable about all the seperate OS's there are out there) only to find that whilst x11 loads and works abiword doesn't and just causes a crash. Now even if Abiword did work then this is the most convoluted way i've ever known for getting one piece of software to work. Imagine if to get Word to work from windows it started Unix. I know that the easiest way to get software to run on different systems is just to port but to port the OS as well just for one piece of software??? It'd be quicker just to go through the code and rewrite it for the OS the machine you want it to run on uses.
I'm dreading testing other pieces of software for OS4 now.
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Harrison 10:33 28th March 2008
That does sound very mad. As you say, why launch another complete OS just to run a single word processing application. Surely there is a decent native OS4 word processor by now? Or has OS4 popularity ended up being so enthusiast only that software development for the "new" OS has become completely reliant on back room coders.
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Buleste 10:43 28th March 2008
There is also Cinnamon Writer which describes itself as a WYSIWIG editor so whilst not a WP it has some similarity but to be honest most software is enthusiasts and back room coders. TBH i think the enthusiasm for OS4 died even before classic came out. In fact the only commercial software that is not games that i can find for OS4 is Hollywood3.1 and Hollywood Designer which are out for OS3, WarpOS and MorphOS as well.
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Harrison 10:53 28th March 2008
It is such a shame, but it was to be expected. When OS4 was first announced there was a huge buzz in the community and the still interested commercial developers at the time, and nearly as much when the first Amiga One's and the beta of OS4 were released. But the length of time between then and now has been so long that the user base has dropped significantly and we have ended up with OS4 being a dated enthusiast only OS for existing fans of the original Amiga. Sad to see, but times, technology and users move on.
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Buleste 10:57 28th March 2008
If you want an AmigaONE theres this brand new one on ebay thats pick up only but still, it looks nice. (Yes i have no taste.)
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Harrison 12:04 28th March 2008
Looks nice. I wonder what the actual reserved price is?

Regarding the case. I have one that is the same make, but a slightly different model, that I use for one of my PCs. It has the same front buttons and drive covers, and for an inexpensive case it is well made and easy to get into and work with.
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TiredOfLife 14:16 28th March 2008
There is some freeware/sharware stuff that is OS4 only.

Pointrider a powerpoint viewer (Not available under OS3xxx.)

Mplayer a video player that can show flv as well as the usual codecs

DVPlayer does the above minus flv.

Nothing available for OS3xxx can play flv as well as a lot of the wmv types.

OWB The only Amiga browser capable of correctly displaying CSS.

There are other bits of software that are OS4 only but have an alternative under OS3xxx.

There are a few games that are OS4 only as well.

I had no problems running AbiWord although it's slow on my system.

Will have a look what else I have been using when I get the chance, but will have to get my miggy fixed first.
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Buleste 14:29 28th March 2008
I know there is plenty of freeware/shareware out there for os4 but what i was saying is there is very little commercial software out there for os4 and how shoddy some of the free stuff is like abiword.
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Harrison 15:00 28th March 2008
@OS4 users

When you get time could you both add the software you are listing in the software directory? And as you have working copies of OS4 it would made screenshots possible too.
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