
TAWS – The Amiga Workbench Simulation - doener
http://www.taws.ch/WB.html
======
kyberias
This looks very realistic but it's really just a fake, not a simulator.

I had an idea some time ago of implementing the relevant Amiga ROM libraries
(intuition, graphics etc.) so that the calls could be transferred to browser
DOM. The CPU would be a normal m68k emulation. Original application could be
started and the windows they open would actually be DOM elements.

My first stage of this implementation was to transfer the libraries as
emulations for Win32 Windows. In this implementation intuition-windows are
Windows windows. :) To be clear, the idea is to emulate the API, not the HW. I
guess it's like WINE but for Amiga.

I have some early POC prototypes of this using emscripten. So in principle it
can be run in a browser. Maybe some day...

It's kind of a crazy idea but kinda cool I think. :)

~~~
laumars
I think you're confusing the terms "simulator" with "emulator".

Both ideas have their place place though and I'd definitely be interested to
see your project (if it ever matures) too

~~~
adrianmonk
Sometimes the terms emulator and simulator are used to distinguish between two
different types of software.

An emulator emulates the hardware (CPU, network interface, disk, graphics,
etc.) and the real operating system runs mostly or entirely unmodified atop
this.

A simulator reproduces the APIs that an application expects without running
the actual operating system code, through some combination of a port or a
reimplementation.

However, I think it's fair to use the word simulation here too. It is a
simulation from the user's point of view.

In fact, another way to categorize all this is at which level the mimicry
happens: hardware, API, or user.

~~~
white-flame
Or, it could be defined as the opposite:

An emulation presents a replica of something else's outward observable
behavior.

A simulation runs a specific internal model, which generates some gestalt
behavioral results.

An emulator might simply mimic surface-level behavior directly, or use an
internal simulation in order to generate it from first principles.

There really isn't a hard and fast agreed-upon definition of these terms in
software, but these seem in tune with their non-computing definitions.

~~~
kyberias
I think your definitions are spot on.

To add a little: sometimes emulation can be achieved by simulation.

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galonk
I checked out of Amiga news after (I think) 3.5... long after most, but before
some it seems. It's interesting that at some point someone redrew my
"GlowIcons"... the upgraded version of the icon set that was included in the
official OS used a 32 color fixed palette (that was controversial because
running a 32 color WB screen was slow on old Amigas at the time). I hand-
dithered them and hand-drew the "glow" in dpaint. (It would have been easier
to do full-color in Photoshop and dither down but I only had an Amiga and
anyway it would have looked terrible.) Thankfully at some point one of the OS
developers wrote me a tool that added the glow automatically.

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mickeyp
Oh, man. That really takes me back. Nothing makes me sadder than the demise of
the Amiga :(

Impressive effort. I wonder if it's using UAE or another emulation layer
cross-compiled to JS?

~~~
Narishma
No, it just recreates the visual appearance and some of the behaviour of the
Workbench. It doesn't emulate the underlying OS, let alone the hardware.

~~~
mickeyp
Ahh, I see. Shame. Nevertheless, it kindled my nostalgia for Amiga!

~~~
rubin55
You know, for some reason I was looking into some Amiga stuff today and found
out about these guys:

[http://apollo-core.com/index.htm?page=products](http://apollo-
core.com/index.htm?page=products)

That thing at the top, the Vampire V4 is what they’re currently working on. As
far as I can gather, it’s not available for general consumption yet, but man
how insanely cool is that!

They’ve made their own “68080” which can run at 1ghz, and that V4 board can
also run in standalone mode: read: not as a cpu replacement, but full Amiga
reimplementation (all custom chips) in FPGA. I found some cool videos about it
on YouTube also, running Scala (the multimedia editing environment, not the
functional programming language ;).

Anyeays, your post about nostalgic feelings hit close to home so thought I
would share my own amazement + nostalgia dive :)

~~~
hakfoo
I was sort of surprised that after the PPC took off, nobody tried to do
something meaningful with the 68k architecture in the immediate aftermath--
license it from motorola, and make pin-compatible clock-doubled 68060s, or
eventually applying modern-x86-style "It's RISC everywhere after the decoder"
designs.

There was probably a few years when there would have been commercial appeal--
getting a few more years of life from all those workstation platforms (pre-
SPARC Suns, pre-PA-RISC HPs, etc.) that ran on 68k-family chips, anyone with a
Mac that had software performance-constrained by the PPC migration-- as well
as the Amiga enthusiasts.

When Transmeta showed itself to the world, I figured that's where their
business case lived. (68k as one of many possible small-run high-margin
markets)

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NeedMoreTea
Oh, it's Amiga nostalgia day on HN is it?

This is really well done, and the nearest I've got to OS 4. Looks and feels
spot on. Even screen scrolling.

I'm gonna be sad now. :(

~~~
dana321
I'm a fan of the older kickstart versions, the new one doesn't have the same
nostalgia for me :)

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machinecoffee
Oh my goodness, sensible, persistent, easy to use scrollbars! Oh how I've
missed them...

~~~
flanbiscuit
And you know exactly where to click on to resize the window!

~~~
code_duck
The predictability of the Amiga desktop enabled vast productivity for me. I
could play it like it was Sonic 2.

------
JKCalhoun
Wow. Sorry, was a Mac guy growing up. But I love the blue-collar-ness of the
Amiga. Workbench instead of Desktop.

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dana321
That's really impressive, i can see a lot of work has gone into it especially
since it has been in development since y2k.

The source code looks really well laid-out and modular too.

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jcadam
I keep an old AmigaDOS reference manual I acquired as a teenager on my
bookcase at work mixed in with all of my other programming books. Occasionally
someone notices it and laughs :)

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mariuolo
I seem to recall a version 1.1 as well, but it's not there.

~~~
NeedMoreTea
There was: [https://theamigamuseum.com/amiga-kickstart-workbench-
os/kick...](https://theamigamuseum.com/amiga-kickstart-workbench-
os/kickstart/kickstart-1-1/)

------
code_duck
I’m impressed with how usable the window manager is on mobile.

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axilmar
Oh Amiga, how do I love thee!!!

I really miss it...I'd love a desktop PC with Amiga's GUI, a decent cli and
the Amiga's responsiveness!!!

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jimjimjim
Orange and Blue forever!

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Annatar
That's an elaborate gimmick:

1\. double-click "System";

2\. double-click "Shell";

3\. type in "C:" and press [RETURN].

And the gimmick falls apart, revealed for what it truly is. For bonus points,
open "Utilities" and try to launch "MultiView". Good luck with that.

~~~
welly
What's the gimmick? It's a simulator. I'm struggling to see what the point
you're making is. It may well be incomplete but it is what it is, a simulator.

So what exactly _is_ your point?

~~~
kyberias
Well the gimmick is that it looks like an emulator/simulator but isn't.

The OP merely pointed out where it fails and shows the cracks.

~~~
welly
It's a simulator. An emulator and a simulator are two very different things.

~~~
Annatar
It doesn't simulate anything.

~~~
welly
Yes it does. Again, you have no idea what a simulator is.

~~~
Annatar
No, of course not: I've worked for so many years in finite element analysis /
computational fluid dynamics industry, only for a "Hackernews" to tell me that
I have no idea what a simulator is. O tempora, o mores...

~~~
welly
If that is the case, then you'd know that this is a simulator.

