Do you approve of PPC (in some form) as the future of Amiga?

[orb85750]

Tough question?

[ElPolloDiabl]

x86 is the commonest platform so it should be on it. Go full 64-bit SMP/SMT while your at it.
I would also like to see it on ARM because it is perfect for light lean OS and unlike other ARM OS you would be free to tinker with it.
PowerPC died when Apple dumped it, if people didn't see it was time to move then... they must interpret the world funny.
68k on FPGA will be satisfactory, but it is not for a serious alternative main OS.
If nothing happens I hope Haiku or AROS will be fully functional alternative OSes.

[Trev]

As long as hardware is available, why not? The CPU is just a tool, like any other. ARM might be more cost-effective long-term, but if by "Amiga" you mean "AmigaOS 4.x," then we have to live with what Hyperion supports.

[ferrellsl]

PPC isn't a "future".  It's a dead-end.

[Gulliver]

Yes, as long as it is something that it is not pittyfull, like current SAM and X-1000 processors. I mean something really powerfull that actually has a future, like some kind of licensed IBM POWER7 chip.

If not, hell no!!!


PS: Just as an example, the IBM POWER7 795 server features 128 cores and a whooping 4.25 GHZ clock frequency! And it is a PowerPC system

But reallistically speaking, you should get over it, and acknowledge the Amiga as we knew it, is long dead. Today, we are just the witnesses, some indeed victims, of marketing BS.

[agami]

Even though only a few people have voted, I'm not surprised to see the preference for x86.

I selected 'Other' because the CPU should be one of the things that is decided last. First I would devlop a product strategy, then as part of the product development I would define my market, design the product in terms of features to cater to that market, assess the budget and estimate the product per unit maximum cost and target profit margin, then I'd look at the component requirements for the production of the product and I would choose the CPU that best delivers the target market features at the appropriate per unit cost. There's a whole bunch of CPUs that fit that criteria, but given the unit cost of PPC MC/IC parts, I doubt they would be at the top of the list.

Unfortunate for Hyperion, PPC was part of a strategy laid down over ten years ago and they've already expended many resources moving AmigaOS to the PPC and they are keen to get some return on their investment. The path of least resistance is to bundle AmigaOS 4 with relatively expensive PPC systems.

As a technology strategist, I would not recommend they ever port AmigaOS to x86 or any other architecture. It would be easier an more beneficial to start from scratch.

[beakster2]

No,

If we had gone to intel in the first place we wouldn't be in the mess we are in now.  The only way the platform can survive now is as a hobby, and most of us can't afford new PPC hardware.  In a few years the PPC Macs will all be antiques so that's not an option for the future.

[desiv]

For me, Amiga on Intel is WinAUE.

Amiga (hardware + OS) is 68K.

I don't disagree with other people doing other fun/interesting stuff tho..

desiv

[nikodr]

We have the problem of endianess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness it is unlikely that amigaos will ever be ported to x86 and boot natively.That thing wont be an amiga.PPC can change the endianess http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC#Endian_modes but i dont think it would be easy to port it to x86.So x86 is definitely out of the question for me.
Also from the same page Endianness and operating systems on architectures

Little-endian operating systems:

    * Linux on x86, x64, Alpha and Itanium
    * Mac OS X on x86, x64
    * OpenVMS on VAX, Alpha and Itanium
    * Solaris on x86, x64, PowerPC
    * Tru64 UNIX on Alpha
    * Windows on x86, x64 and Itanium

Big-endian operating systems:

    * AIX on POWER
    * AmigaOS on PowerPC and 680x0
    * HP-UX on Itanium and PA-RISC
    * Linux on MIPS, SPARC, PA-RISC, POWER, PowerPC, 680x0, ESA/390, and z/Architecture
    * Mac OS on PowerPC and 680x0
    * Mac OS X on PowerPC
    * MVS and DOS/VSE on ESA/390, and z/VSE and z/OS on z/Architecture
    * Solaris on SPARC

Amiga in both 680x0 and PowerPC is big endian while any x64 and x86 above is Little-endian

[orb85750]

I'm having a difficult time answering my own poll, but I'm wondering -- where are all the MOS and OS4 champions?  Don't they support PPC for Amiga?

[Ni72ous]

For me i think AmigaOS should be ported to x86/x64
PPC is slow, outdated and very expensive.

[nikodr]

For me i think AmigaOS should be ported to x86/x64
PPC is slow, outdated and very expensive.

From http://obligement.free.fr/articles_traduction/itwbarthel_en.php

"The high price of the AmigaOne X1000 seems to be an argument, for lots of amigans, to not buy the machine. A solution to sell lot more copies of AmigaOS could be an x86 version. What is your opinion about that?

In this small market price is always an issue. The kind of power the X1000 provides, for such a small customer base, naturally results in a high price. As things stand today, you cannot make this kind of gear in sufficiently large enough volume to bring down the cost and consequently the price.

I consider the x86 path a pipe dream. AmigaOS has no platform/porting layer: it is hardwired to a big-endian host platform, not just the fundamentals but also its data structures. I would say that the chances to see AmigaOS run on an ARM are much higher than to see it run on an x86 family processor. If you wanted to make it work on an x86 host, you would have to throw out all existing Amiga software designed to run on the 68k platform, much of which is still useful today (I would go so far as saying that it is not just useful, it is necessary). You would have to throw away much of the operating system and replace it.

Even if you were to make all of that happen as part of an x86 port, you would have to make significant sacrifices. I doubt that any of these would result in a viable product."

[fishy_fiz]

I dont think it matters. Simple fact is that Amiga OS (capital A) is ppc. With hindsight it makes things difficult to even come close to competeing in terms of price and/or performance, but that wouldve been hard to predict 8 years ago when OS4.x was being instigated, let alone 15 or so years ago when the original ppc card became available. An x86 version is the only way to gain mass acceptance (I mean really, who other than the most dedicated enthusiasts are willing to pay 1500+ euro for a machine whos equivalent you can get for about 200 euro?), but even then it'd be an uphill battle (in the face of the competition that's out there). Amithlon style big endian byte ordering on x86 might've been the best way to go initially (so as to maintain the same style 68k emulation), leading the way to a "normal" x86 version by the time things reach 4.3 (or therabouts (ie. once there's software available)..... even with the performance hit suffered through big endian x86 you'd still be getting hugely improved bang-per-buck (and faster systems) than what is available now/in the forseeable future. This is all in regards to the branded "Amiga" of course. An alternative response could be that Im pretty content with AROS on x86 anyway ("amiga" vs "Amiga").

[SamuraiCrow]

I vote for the 680x0.  Since the heart of the Amiga is its unique graphics chipset, that limits the future to FPGA and similar technologies.  As long as FPGAs are affordable, we should stick with 680x0 softcores to make them a compact SoC.  Viva MiniMig, NatAmi, and CloneAA!

[Dragster]

Voted yes since it's what we currently have, it's quite clear that the x86 route will never happen (let aros aside)... probably the "better than nothing" approach...

Cheers,

D.