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Author Topic: A-EON Technology & Ultra Varisys sign $1.2M agreement for new PowerPC hardware  (Read 6436 times)

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Offline SysAdminTopic starter

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A-EON Technology

NEWS RELEASE

A-EON Technology & Ultra Varisys sign $1.2M agreement for new PowerPC hardware.

AmiWest 2013 - 18th October 2013

Varisys Ltd, who were recently acquired by Ultra Electronics, is already the proven developer and manufacturer of the ground- breaking Nemo motherboard which is at the heart of A-EON Technology’s AmigaONE X1000 system. Powered by the unique PA Semi PA6T-1682M 64-bit dual- core 1.8Ghz PowerPC processor, the AmigaONE X1000 is the most powerful next-generation comp- uter custom designed to run the latest version of the AmigaOS. Building on the success of the Nemo design, A-EON Technology commissioned Ultra Varisys to create a new generation mother- board, codenamed Cyrus Plus, built around Freescale’s P3 and P5 QorIQ series of PowerPC processors. The QorIQ series (pronounced Core IQ) includes several variations of 32-bit and 64-Bit single and multicore PowerPC processors. As with Nemo, the Cyrus Plus motherboard has been custom designed to run the latest version of AmigaOS 4 and will support multiple PowerPC Linux distri- butions. The board is pin compatible with several 64-bit Freescale QorIQCPUs including the P3 P3041, an e500mc quad-core CPU running up to 1.5 Ghz and the P5 series P5020, an e5500 dual-core running up to 2.0 Ghz. The P5040 quad-core CPU which operates up to 2.4 Ghz should also be compatible.

For more information please check the A-EON Technology and Ultra Varisys websites:

http://www.a-eon.com http://www.varisys.co.uk

We’re just Breezin’

contact@a-eon.com http://www.a-eon.com
« Last Edit: October 20, 2013, 02:41:40 PM by SysAdmin »
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Offline vox

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Nice news, great future for Cyrus aka X2000

a) As with Nemo, the Cyrus Plus motherboard has been custom designed to run  the latest version of AmigaOS 4 and will support multiple PowerPC Linux  distri- butions. The board is pin compatible with several 64-bit  Freescale QorIQCPUs including the P3 P3041, an e500mc quad-core CPU  running up to 1.5 Ghz and the P5 series P5020, an e5500 dual-core  running up to 2.0 Ghz. The P5040 quad-core CPU which operates up to 2.4  Ghz should also be compatible.

DOES THIS MEAN I CAN BUY CYRUS PLUS AND UPGRADE CPU LATER TO PPC64 x4 cores?

b) Who gives money to who  A-EON funds Varisys or Varisys to AEON?
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Offline IanP

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The CPU is soldered to the board so you can't upgrade it later.
 

Offline haywirepc

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1.2 million dollars. How many of these boards do they have to sell to break even? I'm no accountant, but something seems off spending 1.2 million dollars for a hobby board. Or is this just hype and or bull%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!?

Two different systems so far now with multicores for an OS that only supports one core. When are they finally going to address this?

How many years has x1000 been out now?

2ghz is still too slow for a "new" computer.

Stay powerpc and stay irrevelant. Only amiga makes it possible.

I check in here still, but I think I'd be best sticking with classics...

I like AROS, love what I've seen from MorphOS but os4 continues to be a disappointment on so many levels. I've got news for them, not many people are willing to spend so much money for a 2ghz motherboard where only one core works.

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Offline SamuraiCrow

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@haywirepc

The boards still run Linux and have industrial use as such.
 

Offline haywirepc

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I've said it before, I'll say it again, no one is spending such money for power pc boards for "embedded applications" They won't release sales figures, they won't even mention a customer who has used their boards for that purpose.

These boards are for amiga os4, and thats all. Great they run linux too. I can get a 2ghz x86 board for 20$ that can run linux.

Smoke and mirrors...
 

Offline LoadWB

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Quote from: haywirepc;750635
I've said it before, I'll say it again, no one is spending such money for power pc boards for "embedded applications" They won't release sales figures, they won't even mention a customer who has used their boards for that purpose.

These boards are for amiga os4, and thats all. Great they run linux too. I can get a 2ghz x86 board for 20$ that can run linux.

Smoke and mirrors...


I have actually seen a few medical devices which are PowerPC based as the embedded supplier has not made the switch to ARM.  I'm guessing there are some industrial applications as well.  (A new x-ray machine I installed not long ago is PPC for the controller.)  They easily make up for it after the cost of the machine, installation, and support contracts.

It's more expensive to build new kit, program new software, then get it certified to regulatory requirements than to stay with the same processes and just file amendments so long as the architecture remains the same.
 

Offline wawrzon

Quote from: SamuraiCrow;750632
@haywirepc

The boards still run Linux and have industrial use as such.


yes, i think this is the deal. Linux can well take advantage of multiple cores and these systems if they actually give at least some performance boost (except for vector maths) in comparison to x1k they may actually find some interst in the linux world. what puzzles me is why they still attempt to dazzle it as "amiga" related. i think aeon (varisys) with their hardware would do much better without os4 balast. i wonder if there will ever be any public confirmation from varisys on These affairs.
 

Offline wawrzon

Quote from: haywirepc;750635
I can get a 2ghz x86 board for 20$ that can run linux.


freescale, varisys or even some other players may see some advantage in a long therm attempt to reestablish ppc platform as desktop or embedded (linux) platform. trevor seems for whatever reason genuinely motivated to drag os4 along, probably he just does not give up so easily.
 

Offline persia

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USD 1.2M would likely be somewhere between 600 boards @ USD 2000 to 1000 boards @ USD 1200 a piece.  This is ambitious as you are talking probably half the number of aOS 4.x  users out there, but is still in the realm of possibility.
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Offline koaftder

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I wouldn't read much into this without seeing the actual agreement.
 

Offline Hattig

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Quote from: haywirepc;750631
1.2 million dollars. How many of these boards do they have to sell to break even? I'm no accountant, but something seems off spending 1.2 million dollars for a hobby board. Or is this just hype and or bull%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!%&$#?@!?


I believe they sell quite well into the embedded linux market? And this board might be also sold as a Freescale CPU evaluation board - I believe Genesi did the same for their Freescale systems a few years back.

If not - no, no idea. They'd need to sell 2000 at $600 a pop to break even (and that's just the motherboard and CPU). I guess that's why the X1000 costs as much as a PowerMac.

Also, if you're incredibly rich, then $1.2m might not be a lot to risk, especially as it will be generating design assets, and then hopefully income. Honestly, if you had $100m (I don't know how much the AmigaOneX backer has) then $1.2 is not a massive risk, relatively.
 

Offline Astral

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$1.2 million. Bun-tock-too-grillion. The figure means nothing. As we don't know exactly what it is representative of. As someone else stated - without seeing the contract...it could mean anything. We are priviliged enough to even know of the "$1.2 million" let alone any more information. What it is really saying I think is a marketing angle of "We are investing a s*&t load of money for the future benefit of the Amiga".

Having said the above (which is NOT to bash AEon's efforts/marketing in anyway) this is fantastic news that there is even more development occuring. The last 5-6 years (or so) of all different types of changes, new hardware, new software (OS and other), FPGA devices, small scale developments and a whole other raft of Amiga endeavours is something we really need to all embrace. It's a fantastic time to be an Amiga enthusiast of any flavour! And I think sometimes people/groups of people take for granted how fortunate they are.

Good luck AEon and others. And THANKYOU.
 

Offline TCMSLP

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It's great news;  Significant new investment, new hardware and continued development in OS4.

Clock speeds are largely irrelevent.  A modern 2GHz CPU is going to do a lot more per cycle than a 2GHz CPU from 8 years ago.  It looks like the P5020 has only been available since late 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QorIQ#P5

I'd be interested in seeing some real performance figures.

Either way, this is all good news for OS4.
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Offline WolfToTheMoon

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Quote from: TCMSLP;750657
It's great news;  Significant new investment, new hardware and continued development in OS4.

Clock speeds are largely irrelevent.  A modern 2GHz CPU is going to do a lot more per cycle than a 2GHz CPU from 8 years ago.  It looks like the P5020 has only been available since late 2012.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QorIQ#P5

I'd be interested in seeing some real performance figures.

Either way, this is all good news for OS4.

Unfortunately, the QorIQ P5 is not a modern desktop CPU speed-wise.
Based on the MIPS rating, it's about as fast an an Athlon FX-57 from 2005, but it still lacks a dedicated SIMD unit(it's got no Altivec)