MetalJoe's Amiga Questionnaire : Results

This questionnaire was purely to give me an idea of what Amigas people out there are using. It is not intended to be an accurate representation of Amiga users, nor even an accurate view of the Amigas used by visitors. It is mainly aimed at being an interesting snapshot of the diversity of Amiga kit in use today.

My definition of Amiga included emulated and compatible machines (i.e. Draco). UAE users are just as valid Amiga users as those running an Amiga compatible OS like p.OS or AROS. I didn't even care if your Amiga was actually a PCI card sitting on another machine (i.e. InsideOut).

Many thanks to everyone who submitted a questionnaire. I'm afraid I only managed to contact a few people personally - there were a handful of anonymous entries, but lots of invalid e-mail addresses!! Still, certainly interesting to see what people out there are using, and what their plans for the future are...

The Survey was held between May and December 1998, inclusive. There is a brief look at the survey partway through you can find on the September 1998 issue of my Amiga Comments column, which makes interesting reading.

I'm afraid this page makes significant use of HTML tables and image stretching. If you are unable to make sense of the results because of this, or would like an ASCII text copy of the results, let me know and I'll add one to the page.

Operating System

AmigaOS 3.1 52.9% AmigaOS 3.0 20.6% AmigaOS 1.3 14.7% UAE / AmigaForever 5.9% pre-1.3 2.9% AmigaOS 2.0 2.9% AROS 0.0% p.OS 0.0%

Not unsurprisingly, OS 3.1 was the most used by a long way. The significant number of people still using OS 1.3 (myself included) was more down to people still holding on to their A500s. Only one person mentioned they were still using an OS1.3 machine as their primary system. The lack of AROS users was interesting, but probably down to the fact that the survey missed the users, rather than because no one is actually using it. p.OS was also at zero but, as mentioned in the reasons for closing my p.OS page, this is mainly because p.OS just isn't supported by anyone - including proDAD! Good to see some UAE/Amiga Forever users too, running on some very nicely specced PCs. It was also good to see that most had retained their old Amigas, and were likely to move from the PC when next generation machines arrive.

Processors

68030 33.3% 68000 21.2% 68060 15.2% 68020 9.1% 68040 9.1% Pentium 9.1% 68010 0.0% Alpha 0.0% 80486 or less 0.0% Co-Processors 68882 12.1% 603e 9.1% 604e 3.3%

The 68030, probably in the 50 MHz region, is the main processor in use on Amigas, followed by the 68000 (mainly in secondary systems). The 060 makes a pleasant impact in the top three, and is certain to increase as it becomes the main accelerator board CPU. The 68020s and 68040s match the emulator's choice of the Pentium in numbers, though I'm not sure you can read anything into this. PowerPC makes a small, but significant impact in the coprocessor stakes. Interestingly, most of the people who put down PowerPC neglected to give any other processor - perhaps they feel the PowerPC is their main processor now?

Graphics Chipset

AGA 50.0% Graphics Card 24.2% ECS 21.9% OCS 9.4% UAE 9.4% RTG Graphics System Picasso96 18.8% CyberGraphX 12.5% Siamese 0.0% EGS 0.0%

Picasso96 surged ahead in the end, after being neck-and-neck, probably spurred on by the fact that CyberGraphX has now gone commercial, the PicassoIV has become more accessible, and Amiga Forever also makes use of P96 RTG. It wasn't much of a surprise to discover no one using EGS, though I know some people out there are still using it, but Siamese was a real shock. Not one person owning a PC and Amiga mentioned Siamese, though one person did express an interest in SiamesePCI when it becomes available. I was honestly expecting more, as it's a great product for unifying the Amiga and PC - and makes more sense than UAE if you have a PC and kept your Amiga! Ah well... Graphics card usage is increasing as more A1200 users obtain Zorro capability or the new Permedia card for PPC. Almost a quarter of users isn't too bad, particularly when you realise a chunk of secondary machines cannot use a card at all (i.e. A500s).

Memory

Chip RAM 2 MB 76.0% 1 MB 16.0% 512k 8.0% Fast RAM 16 - 32 MB 27.6% 8 - 16 MB 17.2% 32 - 64 MB 13.8% 64 - 128 MB 13.8% 0 - 512k 10.3% 2 - 4 MB 10.3% 4 - 8 MB 3.4% 128+ MB 3.4% 1 - 2 MB 0.0%

Well, apologies for the useless grouping of possible choices. It wasn't until near the end that I realised how difficult it is to decide if 16 MB lies in the range 16-32MB or 8-16MB! As a result, these figures are vague at best. Good to see many people in the 16+ MB range, as well as some with 64+ MB. The 128+ MB people were all UAE users, but that's not surprising really. We also had one A1000 listed, which I'm very envious about, though I'm unsure how much Chip RAM it had.

Next Generation Alternatives

Alpha Amiga 30.0% Phase 5 Pre\BOX 26.7% Phase 5 A\BOX 23.3% PIOS transAM 13.3% Take Your Cash and Shove It! 6.7% Second Choices: (Not actually part of the survey) Alpha Amiga 6.9% Boxer 3.4% CHRP PowerPC 3.4% Pre\BOX 3.4%

There was a point when the A\BOX dominated the rankings, but as the year progressed first the Pre\BOX, then the Alpha Amiga took over as the most popular choice. The Alpha came from behind - at one point it was ranked less than the transAM. Ironically, these systems have almost vanished from the scene since the World of Amiga announcement regarding the next generation of Amiga... The Alpha project has been strangely silent since WoA, and is now several months behind schedule. A\BOX has been postponed indefinitely as deadlines slipped and costs mounted - the interim Pre\BOX has similarly vanished, passing the expected November '98 release date without comment. transAM has taken a back seat as PIOS renamed itself Met@Box and temporarily shifted emphasis to Linux-based set top boxes, but it's rumoured to return as both a PowerPC and/or MMC Amiga clone. There wasn't really a second choice, but many people gave one or offered an alternative to those listed. Apart from the Alpha and Pre\BOX, two other suggestions were given: Boxer and CHRP PowerPC. While not exactly next generation for the moment, the Boxer has been rumoured to be a stepping stone towards a PowerPC Amiga platform - with the G3 upgrade merely the first step. The CHRP PowerPC is really what the transAM represents, but I've listed it here as it wasn't actually mentioned by name as a second choice. StrongARM was mentioned once, but not included - in fact, more than one source has recently attempted to identify the MMC as a StrongARM. We'll have to see... I ignored any mention of an MMC Amiga as this wasn't an option under review because such a system has yet to be announced. No one mentioned the SiamesePCI/InsideOut, but that isn't next generation technology - Boxer only just got in because it may well move to a PowerPC-only solution in the future. Coldfire would've also been accepted as a second choice, though its arrival was too late to generate any interest before the end of the survey.

Anyway, an interesting little diversion, and an excellent way of getting the thoughts and dreams of Amiga users worldwide. Thanks once again if you completed the survey. Live long and prosper...

[metaljoe@oocities.com]