This
is the OS4 Interview. This is an interview I conducted with OS4
itself after writing the five part series of The OS4 Pre-release
Preview. It was originally published in Workbench magazine, the paper
magazine that my local Amiga Users Group published on a monthly
basis. It contains a lot of historical information relating to Amiga
OS4 and leading up to it. In the interview WB
asks questions that OS4
answers. Yes, it might look funny that way, as it means Workbench is
asking Amiga OS4 questions. Well,
the magazine that is, since the interview was published by the
magazine. I hope you can enjoy it and the trip it
provides down memory lane.
:-)
The
OS4 Interview?
That's
correct, you read it right the first time. In a special exclusive I
have personally secured an interview with AmigaOS4, the OS itself.
;-) There might just be the Executive underneath, filing from a bit
of DOS, some Graphics on screen, perhaps a Reaction now and then; but
OS4 is here to remind us that it also has that Intuition inside. And
wants to tell us so. For this very reason I am proud on behalf of
Workbench magazine to present
the AmigaOS4 interview.
WB:
Firstly, thanks for taking the time to do this, it's not everyday you
get to talk to the official update to the AmigaOS in years.
OS4:
Oh, you're welcome. Since the '99 3.5 pre-release in Canberra, and
the 2000 announcement of 3.9 at the Melbourne Ace2K show, I do kind
of feel at home here.
WB:
What's it like after all this
time to be brought to life again, so to speak?
OS4:
It's great, for a while I
didn't think I was going to make it. By the end, I was left in this
dormant coma like state after all those years, and really thought at
times that I was going to pass into the realms of OS heaven to be
left dead and buried. I'm so grateful for the team at Hyperion and
all who helped in rescuing me, I really feel they are a kind of OS
software life-savers club. Hi guys!
WB:
While we have all been waiting an anticipation for anything to happen
with Amiga, what were you doing all that time, where in the world
were you?
OS4:
I'd like to say I ran off with
Carmen San Diego, he he, but sadly that is as further from the truth
as you can get. The fact is I practically really was left for dead;
Windows and even MacOS really got a stronghold on the market, and
even Amiga themselves didn't want seem to want me with their AmigaDE
idea to try and make a business with. Life just seemed to go down
hill, and me with it, I considered my whole life and was thinking
what the point of it all is. It's hard for me to say this, but I
really felt like committing suicide at times, I thought it would be
best for everybody. In the end I was just so depressed and deprived
that I just passed out and collapsed in a heap, I ended up on life
support just lying there with no hope in sight, until Hyperion came
along to nurse me back to health. Now I just feel so alive!
WB:
And we're glad they did. It's
understandable why you felt so depressed, after all the empty
announcements and false starts, it didn't help.
OS4:
Yeah, it was like I was being
pulled this way and that. All the different companies with their own
idea of what I should be, all the different hardware platforms I was
meant to be coded for, and alongside that all the differing opinions
from the users point of view of what I should be. As if it was just
an image thing, it was very stressful, was anyone thinking of me? I
mean, at one stage, I didn't know if I was Arthur or Martha. Did you
know, I was even announced as being an x.86 developer OS at one
stage? Talk about confusing.
WB:
I can see what you mean, you
poor thing! Yes, I remember that last announcement, reported in the
June 1998 edition of Workbench
magazine.
Of course, you weren't the only one to go through hard times, you're
business partner, the AmigaOne also had it's fair share of hardships
deal with.
OS4:
Oh, I agree with you totally
there. I guess it all started with the new PowerPC Amiga
announcements like the ABox, AmiJoe and Shark. The sort of things
that never really made it, or are still meant to be in development.
That AmigaOne Zico specification related to AmigaDE caused even more
confusion. The AmigaOne had to get past this by actually being
produced for real, but even it had a rough ride before this happened.
First being a development of the Predator SE A1200 accelerator, then
meant to use the A1200 as a hardware dongle, until finally the
original hardware developed by Eyetech was scrapped and they
partnered up with MAI to produce the boards. Talk about a rebirth of
the Amiga!
WB:
Amazing, even without any Amiga
hardware released to the public, it is staggering to look back on the
recent history so far. So, how do you feel about the new Amiga
hardware being totally different from the classic? Are there things
you miss?
OS4:
Obviously, the first major
thing is that I'm not running on a 68k CPU any more, then there is no
custom chips. Getting past the CPU isn't trivial either; although the
PPC is regarded as a successor to the 68k, it isn't just a drop in
replacement. It's really a completely different CPU, about the only
thing it has that relates to the 68k in general would be a Motorola
influence and big-endian architecture with more registers. With
regard to the AmigaOne not having any customs chips like the classic
does, yes, that would be something I miss. It set us apart from the
rest of society and provided full hardware compatibility, this just
isn't something useful for running AGA games, the hardware allowed us
to do things like video work and accessing real Amiga floppies. Now
we have to rely on VGA cards with TV outs, and without Zorro you
can't just plug a Video Toaster in any more; not to mention a
genlock. Of course, this stems from leaving us both for too long, but
at least the classic with a PPC board attached can still do these
things.
WB:
Yeah, although it was beyond
your control, would you say there are any regrets to the way things
have turned out?
OS4:
Oh, there is of course. I mean,
first the lack of any real developments didn't help, along with all
the useless announcements. Pushing any Amiga fans away and just
making us look bad in the computer marketplace. But what's worse I
think is that not even Amiga, Inc. themselves worked on me or the
hardware, they licensed it out to third parties. Personally I have
nothing against this decision, and I think it was the right one to
make, it's just that so many companies offered to do this in the past
with real intentions and nothing become of it; usually because of the
current Amiga, Inc. at the time. Everyone wanted a new Amiga
machine, and what happens in the end,? Amiga doesn't even make one,
some other Amiga companies do it for them! What a waste, all that
time gone for nothing; if only even one of these companies was
allowed to produce something, an Amiga revival would have happened
ages ago. Now look at what happened. In some ways, this really
disgusts me, it really does.
WB:
Well, what counts it that you
are here now, whatever form you turned out to be. So, how do you see
the future for you and the AmigaOne?
OS4:
A lot brighter now! I've been
revitalised and have some new hardware to run on. But it doesn't end
there, because there is new hardware there is a price to pay for
that, and more than financially. The board has to be made known, and
improved as time goes on, not to mention marketing me as the strong
point. :-) We also need to penetrate other markets, including some we
used be really active in, so we can attract the previous and even
current Amiga fans with better prices. Although those keen spent
money on PPC accelerators in the past, it doesn't mean everybody can
now, nor the means to do so. Of course, already having support for PC
peripherals with PCI and USB does make it easier, no need to make a
hardware wrapper for a PC graphics card in a Zorro card any more.
WB:
Yes, even that support is
welcome, making it cheaper and easier for us. What about other modern
implementations being developed for yourself?
OS4:
Well, first I would have to say ExecSG's virtual memory built in,
which in the future will be supporting the usual paged based type.
Then there is the 64-bit filesystem support with the 64-bit file
sizes being developed. As well as USB drivers, wireless, DVD's,
gigabyte memory, multiple processor support, AltiVec, the list just
goes on. It's hard to believe at times some people just wanted me to
become an emulator on a 'cheap & fasty' PC, I can understand why
but doing do would have prevented modern functionally like these
being built into the system, and more to come. I would have ended up
being a hack!
WB:
And we wouldn't want that. Now
you've come so far, being practically built from the ground up these
last four years, and already having three updates since you were
first unveiled to the public. As well as the public live appearances
at the OS4 Roadshows. These are all great things, I congratulate you
both, and appreciate the time taken out of your hefty schedule for
this interview.
OS4:
Thank you, it makes it all
worth while, without fans like yourself we'd have a lot less to live
for.
WB:
Which brings me to my final
question, about what the public really want to know, and are really
putting the pressure on for an answer. The final release, the icing
on the cake. When all is said and done, when will the big day happen
when finally
AmigaOS4 becomes the finished product?
OS4:
Well, toast me brown and butter
me up both sides, I didn't see that coming did I? The answer to that
is easy, and to put it simply, when it's done. :-)
