What machines does the AmigaOS run on?

At present it is very closely tied to the custom chips in the Amiga range of computers making it quite difficult to port. The AmigaOS currently runs on all 68k processors equipped with the Amiga custom chipset. These include genuine Amiga models, as sold by Commodore, Amiga Technologies, and Amiga International, as well as Amiga clones. The only exception to the rule is the Draco which is able to run the AmigaOS without the Amiga custom chipset. This relies on retargetable graphics and sound to make it compatible with Amiga-based software. Only applications that are 100% OS compatible will run on the Draco. Software that directly accesses the Amigas custom chipset will fail. There have also been recent developments to port the AmigaOS to the, as yet unknown "superchip" and PowerPC platforms. Whilst little is known about the "SuperChip", the AmigaOS will develop API's to talk to the hardware allowing a greater range of processors to run it. Another option available is to use the AmigaOS compatible operating system, pOS, from proDAD. This operating system, it has been claimed, only requires the source code of an application to be recompiled under the new OS to make it compatible with a range of PowerPC and 68k platforms capable of running pOS. However, development of the 68k version is still in the early stages although development is continuing.

The other option available is emulation. This allows the AmigaOS to be run on a virtual Amiga computer, meaning any system that is fast enough (such as a Pentium 100) could run the AmigaOS. However, this will be very slow in many respects, being roughly equivalent to an Amiga 500. Developments in PowerPC-based Amigas suggest that the operating system will, in future models, run entirely under emulation, reducing the cost of including a 68k processor with PowerPC systems. Haage & Partner have stated that an PowerPC 603 running at 200MHz is capable of around processor emulation roughly equivalent to an 68030 25MHz Amiga.

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