{"slug": "amigaos", "name": "AmigaOS", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 3.89, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2026-01-12", "latest": "2026-10-15", "why": "a lot of the affordances AmigaOS provided are things I still actually want", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "a lot of the affordances AmigaOS provided are things I still actually want", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "elowar.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.amigaos.net", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["AmigaOS"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 801628896, "item_id": 50101806, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50101806", "by": "windenntw", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "made wonders to reduce memory fragmentation", "excerpt": "And that's why AmigaOS allowed a MEMF_REVERSE option in the call to the memory allocator ( http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_2.1/Includes_and_Autodocs_2._guide/node0332.html ) Sometime in 95 or 96 recall making a very very simple OS patch that would force all allocations > X size ( 1KB or something like that ) to use MEMF_REVERSE and that made wonders to reduce memory fragmentation :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Personal computer OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Double Headed Stack Allocator"}, {"id": 784311953, "item_id": 49019497, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49019497", "by": "amiga386", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This does not happen on a 1985 Amiga", "excerpt": "To give a corresponding example, try moving the mouse while loading from floppy disk on Windows 95, ten years later. The mouse pointer judders! This does not happen on a 1985 Amiga, even with a fraction of the CPU power, which it needs all of it to redraw UI damage as seen. The reason is that the Amiga system prioritised input processing above normal tasks, it had preemptive multitasking where hardware timers trigger", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time"}, {"id": 784285488, "item_id": 49017843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017843", "by": "vidarh", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a lot of the affordances AmigaOS provided are things I still actually want", "excerpt": "I'm still chasing the idea of recapturing some of that. My file manager is custom (and wildly promitive) because almost everyone has abandoned the idea of a spatial file manager (I don't want a \"dogmatic\" one that insists on one window per folder and reopening at the last position, but I do want Amiga-style ability to explicitly snapshot position and size). My wm is custom because I want one floating Workbench-like d", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop OS reference", "switched_from": "", "story": "July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 769932996, "item_id": 48120812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48120812", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-05-13", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "AmigaOS 1.x fugly", "excerpt": "> I used RISC OS at home. Was wonderful to come back to that. Same here. Windows 2 and Mac System 6 at work, RISC OS 2 at home -- faster, more responsive, more capable and flexible, and much better looking. Some of my friends had Amigas and to me, oh wow was AmigaOS 1.x fugly. 40 years later, KDE still is. GNOME is beautiful but it's so limited it feels like trying to operate a mouse and keyboard with my feet while s", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["personal computer os", "desktop os reference"], "compared": [{"slug": "linux", "name": "Linux", "co": 1, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017265", "title": "July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50098274", "title": "The Double Headed Stack Allocator", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49409210", "title": "Amiga-Inspired AROS Goes Bare Metal on Raspberry Pi", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183579", "title": "Haiku OS runs on M1 Macs now", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48104428", "title": "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587934", "title": "Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"warn": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-08": {"compare": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 801628896, "item_id": 50101806, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50101806", "by": "windenntw", "date": "2026-10-15", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "made wonders to reduce memory fragmentation", "excerpt": "And that's why AmigaOS allowed a MEMF_REVERSE option in the call to the memory allocator ( http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_2.1/Includes_and_Autodocs_2._guide/node0332.html ) Sometime in 95 or 96 recall making a very very simple OS patch that would force all allocations > X size ( 1KB or something like that ) to use MEMF_REVERSE and that made wonders to reduce memory fragmentation :)", "context": "", "use_case": "Personal computer OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Double Headed Stack Allocator"}, {"id": 790694448, "item_id": 49418403, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49418403", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-08-24", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "AmigaOS was better structured, with kernel, multitasking layer, and GUI layer", "excerpt": "All right. I write and have written a bit about enterprise distros, but because all 3 of the main vendors are just remarkably unhelpful -- I think more from sheer incompetence than malice -- I do not look at them much. It is not very germane to what I do: no competent finance director would base their choice of enterprise OS on reviews in the Register. :-) I don't know enough to even dispute the timing, so I will let", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Amiga-Inspired AROS Goes Bare Metal on Raspberry Pi"}, {"id": 784311953, "item_id": 49019497, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49019497", "by": "amiga386", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "This does not happen on a 1985 Amiga", "excerpt": "To give a corresponding example, try moving the mouse while loading from floppy disk on Windows 95, ten years later. The mouse pointer judders! This does not happen on a 1985 Amiga, even with a fraction of the CPU power, which it needs all of it to redraw UI damage as seen. The reason is that the Amiga system prioritised input processing above normal tasks, it had preemptive multitasking where hardware timers trigger", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time"}, {"id": 784285488, "item_id": 49017843, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017843", "by": "vidarh", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a lot of the affordances AmigaOS provided are things I still actually want", "excerpt": "I'm still chasing the idea of recapturing some of that. My file manager is custom (and wildly promitive) because almost everyone has abandoned the idea of a spatial file manager (I don't want a \"dogmatic\" one that insists on one window per folder and reopening at the last position, but I do want Amiga-style ability to explicitly snapshot position and size). My wm is custom because I want one floating Workbench-like d", "context": "", "use_case": "Desktop OS reference", "switched_from": "", "story": "July 23 1985, Commodore introduced its Amiga 1000: 10 years ahead of its time"}, {"id": 771056354, "item_id": 48191022, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48191022", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> Windows 11's UI seems easier on the eyes than Haiku now. I feel the exact reverse. I find modern flat UIs ugly and hard to operate, which makes them more tiring. It is not just me: https://grumpy.website/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Haiku OS runs on M1 Macs now"}, {"id": 769932996, "item_id": 48120812, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48120812", "by": "lproven", "date": "2026-05-13", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "AmigaOS 1.x fugly", "excerpt": "> I used RISC OS at home. Was wonderful to come back to that. Same here. Windows 2 and Mac System 6 at work, RISC OS 2 at home -- faster, more responsive, more capable and flexible, and much better looking. Some of my friends had Amigas and to me, oh wow was AmigaOS 1.x fugly. 40 years later, KDE still is. GNOME is beautiful but it's so limited it feels like trying to operate a mouse and keyboard with my feet while s", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Screenshots of Old Desktop OSes"}, {"id": 745430016, "item_id": 46589376, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46589376", "by": "layer8", "date": "2026-01-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Also, have the TV display an image like this before: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Kickstart1_3.png", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids"}]}