The Unofficial Classic Amiga OS 4 FAQ

Amiga OS 4

Updated: 18 Oct 11

Hardware

1. What hardware can I run on AmigaOS 4 on?

You can run Amiga OS 4 on one of the following models: Amiga A1200, A3000(T) or A4000(T) with a Phase 5 or DCE BlizzardPPC and Cyberstorm PPC accelerator card.
Another version of Amiga OS 4 or 4.1 can run on the AmigaOne motherboards formerly made by Eyetech.
Amiga OS 4.1 is available for the SAM 440EP , 460 and Pegasos II PowerPC systems.
The new A-Eon AmigaOne X1000 will also be able to run AmigaOS 4.1 update 3, see YouTube for a demo.

2. Can I use AGA as well as RTG (Retargetable Graphics)?

Yes, you can use ECS or AGA native graphics as well as compatible graphics cards such as Picasso, Voodoo, Spectrum, Merlin, Permedia based graphics cards.
Radeon cards can be used on the new PPC computers.

3. Can I install AmigaOS on other PowerPC computers such as the Apple Mac?

No, AmigaOS 4 will only work on Classic Amigas, AmigaOne, SAM or Pegasos systems.

4. Can I use my PCI Expansion boards?

Yes, you can use expension boards such as the Mediator, Prometheus, Infinitive and RBM Onboard expanson cards. There are limitations with some peripherals
which use DMA to access memory and onboard cache, which will not work on Amiga OS 4. For full compatibility list , see ACube Systems list. New drivers can
be downloaded from Elbox.

5. Does the Mediator LT version work with AmigaOS 4?

No, not yet, but there will be a fix for it shortly. Use the AmiUpdate tool for latest updates.

6. I have graphics corruption problems with my Amiga OS 4 install?

Try installing and select native ECS or AGA graphics first then try your graphics card later.

7. Which hard disk controllers can I use?

All IDE controllers should work fine. SCSI controllers including the Cyberstorm SCSI, DKB Rapidfire, Yamaha and Impact A4000 cards work.
The A3000, A4000T built in SCSI, A1200 Blizzard and any PCI SCSI cards do not work.

Software

1. Can I run my old 680x0 software on PPC based Amiga OS 4?

Yes, although AmigaOS 4 uses PowerPC natively and turns off the 680x0 processor, it can still emulate 680x0 code using an emulator and you will not notice the
difference.

2. Does Amiga OS 4 still look and feel like Amiga OS 3.x?

Yes, it still retains the Amiga OS look and feel, although the icons are much improved using wide range of colours and 3d look. It still has the same fast workbench
screen and menus as before. See these screenshots for a taste.

3. Can I upgrade from AmigaOS 3.x or do I have to install from scratch?

Since AmigaOS 4 is totally PPC base, you have to install AmigaOS 4 cleanly on a fresh hard disk partition, you cannot upgrade from an existing Amiga OS installation.
See the manual on how to install AmigaOS 4.

4. When I use DVPlayer I can get sound but no video?

Select the DVPlayer program, select Icon, Information and add the following Tooltype: NOOVERLAY and save.

5. Can I dual boot between OS3 and OS4?

Yes, you can use the BootLoader feature to dual boot between OS3.x and OS4. Remember that you may have to reboot twice to remove the OS4 kickstart from memory to allow it to use the OS3 Kickstart. Documentation is on the CD in Documentation/c/BootLoader.doc. You can select the boot partition using the Early Startup menu (press both mouse buttons when booting up).

6. Where can I download Amiga OS 4 software?

You can find AmigaOS 4 software on OS4Depot, Aminet and other places.
Firmware (U-Boot) updates can be found on the Hyperion Downloads pages.

7. I am having problems installing OS4 on my existing Hard disk?

You need to reformat the hard disk using DOS/7 format. This is the Fast File System (FFS) with International mode support and Long Filenames. You can change the format using OS4's Format command or use the Parition Wizard to convert the existing partition. You can also use the Smart File System (SFS) as well. Also, the boot partition must be less than 4GB in size.

8. Where can I get a Software Development Kit?

You can download the SDK from Hyperion ftp server. SDK has now been updated for Amiga OS 4.1.
THe SDK includes GCC compiler, VBCC compiler, Python, Perl, MUI, MiniGL, tools, libraries and documentation.

9. What games are there for PowerPC based Amigas?

A number of PPC based games have been released over last few years: Heretic II, Quake, Quake II, Wipeout 2097, Shogo, Freespace, Nightlong and Gorky 17.
Some may or may not work with Amiga OS 4 or will require Amiga OS 3.x and Powerup or WarpOS/WarpUp.
To run WarpOS applications on Amiga OS 4 you can download the WarpOS wrapper from OS4Depot.

10. What is in the latest AmigaOS 4.1 update?

Amiga OS 4.1 will be out from 6 August of 2008 for AmigaOne systems. No mention of Classic Amigas but I suspect an update will follow afterwards:
* Intelligent memory paging
* Hardware compositing engine
* "Cairo" 2D rendering engine
* Picture Transport Protocol for cameras
* JXFS filesystem to support terabyte disk systems
* Improved Workbench functionality
* Improved DOS functionality including 64 bit support
* 3D hardware accelerated screen dragging
* Reworked AmiDock and Warp3D Radeon drivers

Update 1,2 and 3 for 4.1:
* See Hyperion Website for these updates.

A review of AmigaOS 4.1 can be found on ARS Technica.

11. What is in the latest AmigaOS 4.1 update 4 release? New

12. What is the best Web br /owser to use on Classic PPC Amigas?

Currently the best ones are Origyn Web br /owser and Netsurf.

13. What is the best graphics program for the Classic PPC Amiga?

You can try ImageFX from NovaDesign.

14. What is the best and easiest programming language for AmigaOS? New

GCC is the official programming language but for quickly developing multimedia applications try Airsoft's Hollywood app.

Additional resources on the web:
Hyperion Entertainment Web Site
Official AmigaOS 4 Web Site New
About AmigaOS 4 from Amiga Aukland
AmiUpdate Web Site
AmigaKit Store
Wiki on Amiga OS 4
OS4 Depot
Amiga Bounty