AmigaOS 3.9
Developer: Haage &
Partner/Amiga Inc.
Release: December 4th, 2000
First Public Demonstration: December 9th, 2000
(WoA 2000, Cologne, Germany) |
The announcement and launch of Amiga OS3.9 came as a surprise to
everyone. The product was announced during the fourth quarter of
2000 and was nearing a state of completion. For the first time in
the Amigas history, a product has actually been shipped on the day
that it was due. At the time of the press announcement, the feature
list had already been finalized and there had been extensive
testing to repair many of the bugs. Many have argued that this is
continued proof that Classic Amiga OS development should be handed
to Haage & Partner.
While OS3.5 was designed to fix many of the long-standing bugs,
OS3.9 is designed to implement functions that did not make it into
the previous release and legitimize third party software. It is
designed to provide a set of basic tools to guide future
developments and provide the functionality demanded by a
contemporary OS. Many of the visible improvements have resulted in
support for standard file formats, such as AVI & MP3, while
improving the User Interface aesthetics.
AmigaOS 3.5: Above and Beyond
Much of the confusion stems from previous announcements made by
Amiga Inc. regarding AmigaOS 3.5. At the time it was indicated that
OS3.5 would be the last official upgrade for the Classic Amiga. A
great deal has changed since this announcement, most noticeably the
Amiga being sold to Amino in December 1999. This resulted in the
revoking of the PPC AmigaOS license. The new Amiga Inc. aim to
migrate the community to the Elate based Amiga DE platform.
However, it was recognized that the market would collapse further
without an official end-user product- Enter Amiga OS3.9.
System Requirements
The system requirements remain similar to those dictated for the
OS3.5 release. The only noticeable
difference is another 2Mb of additional memory.
| Basic system requirements: |
CD-ROM drive
Hard drive
68020 or higher processor
Amiga 3.1 ROMs (version 40.xx)
6 MB Fast RAM |
| Mid-range performance |
68030 or higher processor
10 MB Fast RAM
Graphics accelerator and/or scandoubler
Modem |
| Optimum Specification |
68060 processor with PowerPC accelerator card
16-bit sound card
32 MB Fast RAM
I/O Accelerator |
Feature List
The Amiga OS3.9 page on Haage & Partners web site boast the
following features:
- Multimedia programs (MP3 player, AVI & QT player, new CD
player)
- Web browser AWEB 3.4 SE (new version)
- GENESIS (full Internet and network access)
- AmiDOCK (new program start bar)
- WarpOS 5.0 (new version)
- IomegaTools (for Zip and Jaz)
- new powerful Shell (based upon ViNCEd)
- automatic datatype recognition
- integrated unpacker (lha, lzx, dms, zip...)
- fast search (search for, and in files)
- new picture datatype (PPC-optimized)
- many new Tools (ASLPrefs, new Info requester, new watch, font
cache, new color wheel, etc.)
- extensive HTML documentation (in English and German)
In addition, the OS upgrade sports a number of additions that have
been requested or promised for OS3.5. Most notably, ReTargetable
Audio is included, through the use of AHI, support for 1:1 aspect
ratio window borders, and various improvements to HDToolBox.
Boing Bag
The release also introduced a series of official updates, known as
BoingBag releases, that repair problems that may have arisen or
improve system speed when using 3rd party applications.. These can
be downloaded from the Amiga
OS3.9 area on the Amiga web site.
Criticism
Two main criticisms have been raised regarding the OS3.9 release.
The first, raised by Amiga users, attacks the extensive use of
third party software to supplement the operating system, such as
the inclusion of AMPlifier (the Amiga version of WinAMP). Many of
these utilities can be downloaded from Aminet or from the author's
home page. Others have praised this move - why reinvent the wheel
when there are products available that can do the job?
The second, more serious allegation, suggests that the Amiga
OS3.9 CD includes unlicensed/illegal software. In a statement, Tomi
Ollila of Network Solutions Development, Inc. accuses Active
Software, Chris Wiles, and by extension, Haage & Partner, of
pirating software.
Read the informal statement made by Tomi
Ollila
Read the official announcement of the
license negotiations
Read additional comments made by Tomi on
his web page
After the informal announcement was made, Tomi Ollila issued a
public announcement detailing the current progress of negotiations.
After some negotiation, it is unlikely that these events will
effect the sale and distribution of Amiga OS3.9. However, it has
given Amiga detractors another reason to complain.
Future Developments
Plans are already being made for a OS3.9 'Boing Bag' release. One
of many features to be included will be asynchronous file copying.
This has been possible using various WB-replacements, such as
ScalOS and Directory Opus 5 for years,
but is the first time that the feature has been standard in an
official AmigaOS release.
In the long term, Haage & Partner are hopeful that a new
Kickstart ROM and a port to PowerPC will be approved.
Internal Links
Read the November 2000 Executive Update/OS3.9
Press Release
Images
AmigaOS 3.9 Advert (112k) Amiga OS3.9 Box (61.5k) OS3.9 CD - Front (149K) OS3.9 CD - Back (183K) Amiga OS3.9 Screenshot (172k) Another OS3.9 Screenshot (149k)
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