Natami 3D-artist Interview

[koshman]

Hey, I also want a Pole Position cabinet! I envy you

[Louis Dias]

How does an interview with an artist turn into a "let's bash the entire project" thread?

[Tomas]

I am actually interested in buying this if it ever gets released.

But anyways.. I dont understand why so many people bitch about slow progress. I think the progress we have seen is rather amazing considering the resources these guys have. I also recall when it was first posted about and back then everyone claimed it was a hoax because of AGA lacking documentation. Now they already have a working prototype with a more or less fully aga compatible chipset that has been heavily improved.

[EDanaII]

Amen, Tomas, amen. Personally, I think that if they actually do produce something, it will be an interesting validation of the old Amiga architecture if it can outperform equivelant hardware. I doubt I'd buy it, unless the price and performance are reasonable.


@ Lou_Dias

I don't think anyone's "bashing the entire project." What I'm reading here is a lot of healthy skepticism, something Miggy-Land always needs.


@ JimS

I really didn't take the remark as disparaging. Hell, let's not forget that Apple started quite literally as two guys in a garage.

[Louis Dias]

You read "healthy" and I read "unhealthy".
The people at the top of this project have real-world industry experience.
Even one of the 3D core designers works for a company that actually releases Wii/PS3/360 titles and is familiar with what functions 3D games require.
On the 2D front, it's no secret that MEMCOPY speed rules the day.  The memory controller will be faster than an A1 or even a Peg2.  This alone will increase sprite performance(and quantity) greatly.

If anything this collection of people who are doing this as a hobby have alot more initial credibility that Dennis(aka minimig) who came out of no where.  Recall the negativity there...

If Thomas has indeed found a problem with the proto-type board he received in September, I'm sure he's been busy with a rework for the past couple of months.  That is, afterall, the purpose of the 1st proto-type, is it not?  No need for negativity.

This is not a commercial venture.  Do not expect commercial deadlines.

[persia]

Feature creep happens to real world people with real world experience.  In fact, you really have to have real world experience to suffer from feature creep.  Virtually all the Amiga vapour of the past was designed by real world people with real world experience.  Feature creep is endemic in the industry.

[desiv]

...In fact, you really have to have real world experience to suffer from feature creep....

No..  Any project where you "add features" that weren't part of the original design is feature creep.  Experience has nothing to do with it.

The more experience you have, hopefully the less likely you are to have feature creep, as you should be more aware of what it can do to your project..

However, I've seen many people with experience fall victim to feature creep as well, so I'm not convinced real world experience helps at all.  Unless you happen to be a PM..

Unless your emphasis is on the "suffer" part.  In that, without real-world experience, you still have feature creep. However, since you aren't aware of it, you don't suffer from the results?

desiv

[leszeka33]

The Natami guys have never posted saying they have a release date or even promised the project will ever finish.  They never lied and posted fake pictures or broke promises about anything.  They are having fun with electronics and posting pictures of that fun.

The deadline for Natami developer board was "end of summer 2008".
http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=1¬e=1603
Natami developer board was ready sep 2009.
http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=1¬e=11215&x=0

[leszeka33]

Yeah, but who cares? Maybe it will never work so what?
I mean it's basically a website of a couple of guys showing "their" work on "their" hobby.
I don't see this as any different then if you were a snowboarder Piru and you posted Youtube vids of new tricks you were trying to create in the snowboard scene.
Who cares if you never get your trick to work? It's your hobby and you're having fun.

Amiga Inc. has done a wonderful job giving us the best Amiga ever created - the Amiga One.
Hyperion done a fantastic job, giving us the best Amiga Os ever created - Amiga Os 4.
These people should not be bashing by people who have not shown anything working yet.

[Karlos]

^ :roflmao:

I think you'll find it was eyetech that brought in the A1, which in turn was basically the Teron board. Hyperion developed OS4. Not entirely sure what AInc did in all of this, apart from refuse OS4 licenses to just about every possible PPC target that came along after production of the A1 stopped.

[leszeka33]

^ :roflmao:

I think you'll find it was eyetech that brought in the A1, which in turn was basically the Teron board. Hyperion developed OS4.

Outsourcing of the motherboard design, to the company that has experience in this.
It was a very wise decision.
We should all be grateful Amiga Inc. for that.

[RMK305]

Grateful to Amiga Inc? I take it you've just arrived. Welcome to Earth.

[jj]

Outsourcing of the motherboard design, to the company that has experience in this.
It was a very wise decision.
We should all be grateful Amiga Inc. for that.

That's one of the funniest things ive read regarding amiga , apart from the Iphone idea was stolen form Amiga Inc.

[recidivist]

Dennis's minimig recreated the Amiga 500 and I thought the Natami boys were going to do an Amiga 4000+ clone-except the urge to shovel in all the features of computers developed post Commodore has really slowed the progress.
There can be such a thing as "biting off more than you can chew";I .too, have started things  beyond my ability and resources,ultimately having only a learning experience as the result.
 Acube with the SAM  has staked out the post-Commodore hardware for now,and without  comparable or better backing ,I doubt Natami can even match that ,much less surpass it.
But I also think  a Natami that  consisting of a basic A4000 class CPU and video with plenty of board slots for Zorro and PCI(e) cards should have been the first project.Sort of like the Elbox Dragon? that  never made it.

[SamuraiCrow]

Why does everyone assume that the FPGA cores are the limitation for the Natami?  The '050 core and Robin core and Tami core aren't even required for a release.  They can release an '060-based experimental Natami today if they had the hardware working right.  The limitation is that all of those cores that I just mentioned are tested in simulators rather than actual hardware.