AmigaOS 4.1 FE PPC Classic on WinUAE
So I have been using AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Classic on WinUAE for a few months now. Here are some of my observations.
Before I continue I must say again that this review is based on an emulated AmigaOS PPC Classic, so I do not know if my troubles discussed below are the result of emulation or of the OS.
I enjoy working in OS4.1 but I tend to encounter problems that I had on my stock A1200 under OS 3.0: crashes. In OS4.1 I still experience frequent system crashes. The GrimReaper app does catch some programs before the program takes down the system, but it doesn't catch everything.
I also seem to run out of memory often. This is particularly true with CodeBench, which is what I use to test-drive some C/C++ programming on OS4.1.
Web browsing is a bit frustrating. I've tried OWB, Odyssey, IBrowse, and NetSurf. NetSurf seems to be the better browser for my tasks. One would think Amiga websites would work okay with AOS browsers, but that isn't the case. The GenerationAmiga website seems to be the worst offender; it barely works in NetSurf and typically ends in a system crash. I've found that certain web browsers work better on certain websites. It makes for a great juggling act but can be annoying.
I recently started trying out AmiBlitz 3.6.1 under AOS4.1. It seems to work well minus the occasional GrimRepear appearance.
Not having a text typing App (other than Amiga NotePad) that has word-wrap as part of the OS package is annoying. I know the Enhancement Packet 1.3 has a new editor, so maybe that provides a solution that I'll have to investigate.
I tend to like OS 4.1 more than my AOS 3.x setup in WinUAE. I'm sure that AmiKit can give OS4.1 a good run for its money, though. I have used AmiKit in the past, and I liked it, too.
In my opinion, at this point AOS 4 needs to focus on stability (although this could be a result of PPC Classic emulation) and on a modern Web Browser.
Before I continue I must say again that this review is based on an emulated AmigaOS PPC Classic, so I do not know if my troubles discussed below are the result of emulation or of the OS.
I enjoy working in OS4.1 but I tend to encounter problems that I had on my stock A1200 under OS 3.0: crashes. In OS4.1 I still experience frequent system crashes. The GrimReaper app does catch some programs before the program takes down the system, but it doesn't catch everything.
I also seem to run out of memory often. This is particularly true with CodeBench, which is what I use to test-drive some C/C++ programming on OS4.1.
Web browsing is a bit frustrating. I've tried OWB, Odyssey, IBrowse, and NetSurf. NetSurf seems to be the better browser for my tasks. One would think Amiga websites would work okay with AOS browsers, but that isn't the case. The GenerationAmiga website seems to be the worst offender; it barely works in NetSurf and typically ends in a system crash. I've found that certain web browsers work better on certain websites. It makes for a great juggling act but can be annoying.
I recently started trying out AmiBlitz 3.6.1 under AOS4.1. It seems to work well minus the occasional GrimRepear appearance.
Not having a text typing App (other than Amiga NotePad) that has word-wrap as part of the OS package is annoying. I know the Enhancement Packet 1.3 has a new editor, so maybe that provides a solution that I'll have to investigate.
I tend to like OS 4.1 more than my AOS 3.x setup in WinUAE. I'm sure that AmiKit can give OS4.1 a good run for its money, though. I have used AmiKit in the past, and I liked it, too.
In my opinion, at this point AOS 4 needs to focus on stability (although this could be a result of PPC Classic emulation) and on a modern Web Browser.
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