Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: Crom00 on January 21, 2010, 05:20:51 AM
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With all the chatter about X-1000's lets not forget one of the coolest projects out there. The clone A. Is Jens out there...? Can you give us an update?
Safe to say THIS is the product I think many of us would buy in a heartbeat.
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+1
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Imagine that Jens has finished CloneA (eg he can create FPGA's for the ECS chipset, maybe even the AGA chipset by now).
Now the question would be how to make any money out of CloneA. One way would be to release part of the design as a new scandoubler like the IndivsionECS for example.
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Simple answer:
Sell an A4000 Clone-A for 500 USD ;)
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I don't think Amiga.org is the place to ask Jens questions anymore, unfortunately. :(
Jens won't be posting here anymore:
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?p=533513#post533513
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Maybe someone can write a polite letter to him and post answer here, I am curious as well.
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im also thinking of leaving,will make my mind up in a few days. i spent a lot of time on my project (just over two and a half years) just to see things not go my way after a lot of research but will help a few users before i decide what to do.
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I didn't catch that post until now. I didn't realize Jens was such a political putz (and I am being kind).
Guess I won't be buying any of his stuff any more.... But them, but the time Clone A is done, he may not even ship to us stinking Americans.
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With all the chatter about X-1000's lets not forget one of the coolest projects out there. The clone A. Is Jens out there...? Can you give us an update?
Safe to say THIS is the product I think many of us would buy in a heartbeat.
IIRC he wasn't able to get a license from Amiga Inc to go ahead with the plans he had in mind, so I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing got shelved...
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The Denise from Clone-A project is inside the Indivision ECS product.
He shouldn't need a license from Amiga Inc. for the hardware because any patents covering both ECS & AGA have lapsed. It is more than 17 years since they would have been filed.
I guess he needed the license to use the name Amiga
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I didn't catch that post until now. I didn't realize Jens was such a political putz (and I am being kind).
Guess I won't be buying any of his stuff any more.... But them, but the time Clone A is done, he may not even ship to us stinking Americans.
Just a point, if you only buy products from people that aren't putz's, you're seriously limiting your options. :lol::lol:
There are lots of people I do business with that I'd never hang out with.
I think an Amiga DTV type of product would be great. Especially if, like Jeri's, it was expandable with a bit of solder.. :-) I'm not saying it would sell, that's a marketing thing. Just that it would be great. ;-)
As for a computer, that's very tricky. I'm glad people are working on them, but not sure I'd buy one personally. It would be tempting, but would depend on price and how well my current Amiga's are working.
I have a computer to browse the web (Heck, I have a Nokia 770 and even a cell phone that will browse the web). I'm not looking for a 1000Mhz 68k box to run Amiga OS 5.23b4sp6. I'm into my Amiga for retro-goodness.
desiv
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More likely there just isn't any commercial product in a complete clone Amiga system. There is enough NOS A1200/A4000 + working old units to satisfy the Enthusiast Amiga Market... For everyone else there is UAE (and the next gen AOS projects), which in the case of UAE and AROS can be had for free.
How many units do you think Jens could realistically sell? I'd probably get one, and so would a few others... so shall we be generous and say between 40 and 80 units?
Realistically, the CloneA project could probably be realised with a simple board built around TI’s OMAP 3430 processor and Linux running UAE as the user shell. The units could probably be sold for under $100!
-Edit- Link: http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbuproductcontent.tsp?contentId=14649&navigationId=12643&templateId=6123
-Edit- Link to a computer you can buy: http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=228
-Edit- Link to the breakout board: http://www.gumstix.com/store/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=31_40&products_id=215
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im also thinking of leaving,will make my mind up in a few days. i spent a lot of time on my project (just over two and a half years) just to see things not go my way after a lot of research but will help a few users before i decide what to do.
your not alone i am also thinking of leaving, the amiga aint what it used to be. the design sukage hard and we dont know who the new owner are. its secrets and untrust like that that kills amiga.
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I didn't catch that post until now. I didn't realize Jens was such a political putz (and I am being kind).
Guess I won't be buying any of his stuff any more.... But them, but the time Clone A is done, he may not even ship to us stinking Americans.
ah c'mon now be nice! we need Jens :-)
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I seriously do not understand why people are leaving or are thinking of....
Why guys ? What is the problem with the new owners ? nothing have changed
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Only "change" I've noticed is how much longer Amiga.org takes to load! lol Seriously... and I have high-speed and nothing else different on my end. Pretty darn close to the time of the change I noticed this. Either during the initial loading of the page, inputting of the password and then posting sometimes, will the browser hang for many seconds. The picture upload feature is seriously bugged out too (unless it just doesn't like Safari 4.04 or something) as I have to constantly refresh the upload button, even for small files before it finally takes.
And A1260 and Delshay... what are you two talking about leaving? A.org, the legacy machines or projects you've been working on?
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it whats happen in the last few days i spent a lot of time and money on my project only to see thing not go my way,it look very likely i will leave this site but my project will go on,but everything will be kept in-house and any updates will be given to users directly via PM.
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@delshay
Ok, but what happened exactly ? (if you want to tell of course)
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...and what is your project?
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was it a "most ambitious project"?
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was it a "most ambitious project"?
LOL! I'm glad someone else asked. I was embarrassed to have been left out of the "loop"... c'mon guys, no need to jump ship really, is there? We're all about legacy, current and future Amiga "projects"!
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Anyone know what pissed Jens off enough to leave?
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Anyone know what pissed Jens off enough to leave?
It's pretty clear in his message, but (if I'm drawing the right conclusion...), when a.org switched to the new SOOPER SEKRIT OWNERS WHOSE IDENTITY MUST BE PROTECTED *AT ALL COST* (because apparently they're batman or some other fucking thing, I don't know) the idea that they were above revealing their identity, and that this place was used as an informal point of contact for Jens' efforts (as well as containing some personal information about him, in his profile I guess) really torqued him off.
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Anyone know what pissed Jens off enough to leave?
Yeah. We dont know who owns our personal data here on Amiga.org because we still haven't been told who owns it, despite people really wanting to know.
This security vulnerability led Jens to leave.
I don't blame him. After all, he is a businessman, and a big figure in the Amiga hardware scene. He didn't want his details compromised, and so, left.
We're told it's DiscreetFX Partners who own the site.
But I think there's more to it than that. Otherwise they simply could have told us.
Have you heard the Roundtable Podcast?
What a farce.
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Yeah. We dont know who owns our personal data here on Amiga.org because we still haven't been told who owns it, despite people really wanting to know.
This security vulnerability led Jens to leave.
I don't blame him. After all, he is a businessman, and a big figure in the Amiga hardware scene. He didn't want his details compromised, and so, left.
We're told it's DiscreetFX Partners who own the site.
But I think there's more to it than that. Otherwise they simply could have told us.
Have you heard the Roundtable Podcast?
What a farce.
Link, good sir?
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Can't seem to find it anywhere... perhaps someone else can locate it.
The first half hour want recorded anyway... But it was brilliant listening to it live!!
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Found it I think... Here: http://www.amigaz.org/podpress_trac/feed/491/0/ART_20091115.mov
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Yeah. We dont know who owns our personal data here on Amiga.org because we still haven't been told who owns it, despite people really wanting to know.
This security vulnerability led Jens to leave.
I don't blame him. After all, he is a businessman, and a big figure in the Amiga hardware scene. He didn't want his details compromised, and so, left.
What a farce.
;^)
Yeah, watch out someone might find out what town I live in and that I don't like Apple any more than Microsoft. ;^) OOOOOOOooooo. They might also see the picture I posted of my old dead A4000D board or find out that I'm wacked enough to want to buy an X1000.
Ah never mind, I post more than that to my Facebook account.
Really, who cares who owns the site as long as it continues to be a useful form of contact. It's not like Jens was posting project designs that required an NDA or something. Most discussions involved information he wanted to be publically vailable anyway.
The idea that anything could be important stolen by the new owner is ludicrous.
If it's such a big deal just remove your location info and don't post anything confidential.
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Jens was probably drunk when he made his last post, and he'll probably be back again sometime.
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Yep does sound a bit strange. I have no personal information on this site apart from my D.O.B 11/09/1902 and my real name 'Mr Big'.
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OMG!! I was just watching the Amiga roundtable video that was linked and he not only gives out his email address but his home phone number. Holy cow, doesn't he realize how dangerous that is. I can do a reverse lookup on that number and come make him listen to MOD files all night long.
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Jens was probably drunk when he made his last post, and he'll probably be back again sometime.
That's also a strong possibility :)
But seriously, think about it.
Whoever owns this site has all our details we gave at registration, plus access to our private mail.
I would be paranoid if I was a businessman within the Amiga community, and then the site I use to communicate to others with is bought over by some unknown entity. It could be a competitor, or whoever. The point remains the same - I don't blame him for leaving.
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I will agree with you on that, and even more if you think that the person who bought it is an investor in another Company.
When the owner was Wayne, we all knew who he was, an enthusiastic Amiga user that worked in Amiga.org as his personal hobby, we all knew what were his goals.
We know zilch about current owner, and his intentions!
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I will agree with you on that, and even more if you think that the person who bought it is an investor in another Company.
When the owner was Wayne, we all knew who he was, an enthusiastic Amiga user that worked in Amiga.org as his personal hobby, we all knew what were his goals.
We know zilch about current owner, and his intentions!
If you trusted Wayne as much as you say, why not trust him with who he sold the site to? He made it clear that he did it with the knowledge that it was going to maintained up to his standards.
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That's also a strong possibility :)
But seriously, think about it.
Whoever owns this site has all our details we gave at registration, plus access to our private mail.
I would be paranoid if I was a businessman within the Amiga community, and then the site I use to communicate to others with is bought over by some unknown entity. It could be a competitor, or whoever.
Doubtful since the angel investor does not understand how to Admin the site and does not even have or want Admin rights. The investor only wanted to save Amiga.org and compensate Wayne for his time. The only details I have are what you provide and you can change those at anytime.
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@Pyromania
Does he/she have a long, mid term plan with Amiga.org? What does he/she expect to change something in the future?
Is he/she someone we could trust for being a non profit maker regarding Amiga.org, and is he/she an amiga fan? Can we trust what he/she says?
I know it sounds trying to troll, but i feel like i dont understand what is behind hiding his/her ownernership. It sounds quite odd, suspicious, i am a bit confused by this.
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I don't see why it's such a big secret.
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The Denise from Clone-A project is inside the Indivision ECS product.
He shouldn't need a license from Amiga Inc. for the hardware because any patents covering both ECS & AGA have lapsed. It is more than 17 years since they would have been filed.
I guess he needed the license to use the name Amiga
AFAIK the end goal was a single chip product in silicon, and I guess he didn't think it would be complete without the name, kickstart and OS?
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I seriously do not understand why people are leaving or are thinking of....
Why guys ? What is the problem with the new owners ? nothing have changed
It's not about whether anything changed or not. I think Jens and the others has raised very good points. Keeping ownership a secret is strange and ridiculous.
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I will agree with you on that, and even more if you think that the person who bought it is an investor in another Company.
When the owner was Wayne, we all knew who he was, an enthusiastic Amiga user that worked in Amiga.org as his personal hobby, we all knew what were his goals.
We know zilch about current owner, and his intentions!
I don't think Wayne will object to my saying that you got that slightly wrong. He's not been an amiga user for many years now, let alone an enthusiastic one. One of the motivations for selling the site was that he wanted someone that still is such an enthusiast to take over.
I don't know any more about the new owner than you do, but I do know that whoever it was paid 10,000USD and so far hasn't made any changes to how the site is run or felt the need to stamp their authority or opinion on it.
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So you are saying that Wayne is no more an enthusiastic Amiga user, not even an Amiga user. Well i didnt say the contrary. What i said is that he was (past tense), so we all knew what were his intentions. Of course he probably got tired and lost interest, and.... 10000 USD doesnt hurt! :)
But the fact still remains we know zilch about the current owner and his intentions, and that it sounds at least suspicious when he hides who he is in a secretive manner behind a privately held company.
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Maybe someone can ask the angel investor if he want to invest in the Clone-A or AROS?
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So you are saying that Wayne is no more an enthusiastic Amiga user, not even an Amiga user. Well i didnt say the contrary. What i said is that he was (past tense), so we all knew what were his intentions.
Well, intentionally or not, you implied Wayne was an amiga user at the time he was running the site. That's not strictly the case, he hasn't (by his own admission) been an active amiga user for the the last few years he was in charge.
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Okay, probably i expressed it wrong or you missunderstood that, it really doesnt matter anyway. :)
The matter of discussion was not really what Wayne does or did, it was about the suspicious Amiga.org owner not revealing his/her name and intentions.
Back to topic:
I dont see what is the issue with licensing, Jens can sell his product under Clone-A name and put empty sockets for kickstart rom/s, or even a flash solutions that somehow allows Amiga Forever owners to move their legal rom file to flash media. In that way he doesnt require any licence, and he is not doing anything illegal stuff.
Of course, this means the user will have to purchase a legally valid rom.
If what he wanted was the "Amiga" name, really that isnt important. If he really cares that much about names, then it maybe easier for him to contact actual Commodore brandname owners and cut a deal with them. But i fail to see the licensing issue.
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Maybe Jens is the new owner and has just played an awsome double bluff :D
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Back to topic:
I dont see what is the issue with licensing, Jens can sell his product under Clone-A name and put empty sockets for kickstart rom/s, or even a flash solutions that somehow allows Amiga Forever owners to move their legal rom file to flash media. In that way he doesnt require any licence, and he is not doing anything illegal stuff.
Of course, this means the user will have to purchase a legally valid rom.
If what he wanted was the "Amiga" name, really that isnt important. If he really cares that much about names, then it maybe easier for him to contact actual Commodore brandname owners and cut a deal with them. But i fail to see the licensing issue.
Yeah OK, what I was referring to came from a video recording from the Clone-A presentation at Breakpoint 2007, and it turned out I didn't recall it quite correctly. While Jens had tried to get an official license, he also mentioned two possible options he had for kickstart substitution (of which none would be able to boot WB however). He obviously had great problems in getting a license, and he wasn't even entirely sure who was the legitimate IP owner. But there were indeed ways around it.
Anyway, if anyone haven't seen the presentation, here it is:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7945941150233337270#
All in all a very interesting presentation, and here are a few highlights:
At 25:30 min he mentions the kind of device he plans for Clone-A
At 29:30 and 36:00 he talks about turning the FPGA VHDL program into a single ASIC chip for mass volume production at really low costs.
At 37:00 he talks about the financial obstacles and the requirement of investors
At 42:30 he mentions the IP situation, licensing problems, and the replacement options.
He was obviously estimating an end user release at the end of 2007, and since I am fairly sure that this time estimation was from a technological point of view (things had progressed quite far and was kind of ready, as seen from demonstrations), I guess what *really* stopped the show, was a lack of investors and/or commercial soundness for a low cost, mass volume ASIC based Clone-A.
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Yeah OK, what I was referring to came from a video recording from the Clone-A presentation at Breakpoint 2007, and it turned out I didn't recall it quite correctly.
Wow... that video was from 2007? Time marches ahead, maybe I should leave too lol. Who got use for Amiga systems when you are 85 years old :)
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Wow... that video was from 2007?
Time flies! :-)
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@takemehomegrandma
Thank you for the information.
So at the end, the problem is most probably, the lack of funding to build an ASIC and/or the size of the potential market size required for such a product.
It is a pitty though!
Isnt low volume production (of course, not using an ASIC) of the Clone-A still viable comercially speaking?
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Maybe I'm missing something but I thought discreetfx was a software company that sold some amiga products, if that's right it makes sense for them to want Amiga.org right? And if we know the name of the company that owns the site then it's no secret right? And we should be pleased that an Amiga company owns Amiga.org right? And who cares who owns it as long as we have a place to go and ask questions on how to fix our ailing A500s etc... right?
Ok, I just went to their site and well they may not exactly be an amiga company because I didn't see any amiga software for sale but by looking at the community section of the page they certainly do seem to be Amiga supporters.
So that's a positive thing right?
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Yeah OK, what I was referring to came from a video recording from the Clone-A presentation at Breakpoint 2007, and it turned out I didn't recall it quite correctly. While Jens had tried to get an official license, he also mentioned two possible options he had for kickstart substitution (of which none would be able to boot WB however). He obviously had great problems in getting a license, and he wasn't even entirely sure who was the legitimate IP owner. But there were indeed ways around it.
Anyway, if anyone haven't seen the presentation, here it is:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7945941150233337270#
All in all a very interesting presentation, and here are a few highlights:
At 25:30 min he mentions the kind of device he plans for Clone-A
At 29:30 and 36:00 he talks about turning the FPGA VHDL program into a single ASIC chip for mass volume production at really low costs.
At 37:00 he talks about the financial obstacles and the requirement of investors
At 42:30 he mentions the IP situation, licensing problems, and the replacement options.
He was obviously estimating an end user release at the end of 2007, and since I am fairly sure that this time estimation was from a technological point of view (things had progressed quite far and was kind of ready, as seen from demonstrations), I guess what *really* stopped the show, was a lack of investors and/or commercial soundness for a low cost, mass volume ASIC based Clone-A.
Just watched the vid, pity it did not happen. Still hope it appears one day.
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@takemehomegrandma
Thank you for the information.
So at the end, the problem is most probably, the lack of funding to build an ASIC and/or the size of the potential market size required for such a product.
It is a pitty though!
Isnt low volume production (of course, not using an ASIC) of the Clone-A still viable comercially speaking?
I don't think low volume FPGA stuff ever matched his ambitions and goals, that stuff was merely the prototyping path towards a real product, and it would definitely not make *commercial sense* (at least IMHO).
Could a high volume ASIC thing still be done today? Who knows. Maybe?
For the kind of product he had in mind back then, I would today like to see a truly working HDMI output connector, to be used in some generally acceptable modern TV resolution, and some way to handle the 16:9 aspect in a plasma friendly way (pixel shifting or whatever they call it, as well as an *option* for grey/light bars on the sides instead of black bars).
And we should reflect over the fact that *a prerequisite* for this product is that it will be a *mass market, high volume* thing, and as such it would *live or die* by the "Amiga" trademark (unlike some NG clone OS's, where the trademark is kind of pointless). It won't be some general STB or a HTPC (or some other general "Multi Media" thing), it won't have the specs, no, this will specifically be a ultra cheap **AMIGA gaming device** (at least primarily, although one probably could think up quite a few more areas of use) for the "retro/nostalgia crowd" that once knew and still recognize the Amiga and its games...
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They only ways I can think of selling it are:
1) Something like the MiniMig but packaged in a cute 'mini' 1200 case (and maybe mini 4000T cases) with the Amiga brand name, running loads of pre-installed WHDLOAD games. I think loads of people (ex-Amigans + some existing classic users) would buy into this but only if it was idiot-proof and cheap (<$200).
2) Replacement classic motherboards for classic cases (I can see only limited sales).
3) Replacement classic motherboards (with cases?) and some modern updates (think Natami), again I think they would sell but only in limited amounts.
Basically any classic upgade (OS3.9) will start to compete with SAM and the X1000 (OS4.x) if it's too expensive.
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They only ways I can think of selling it are:
1) Something like the MiniMig but packaged in a cute 'mini' 1200 case (and maybe mini 4000T cases) with the Amiga brand name, running loads of pre-installed WHDLOAD games. I think loads of people (ex-Amigans + some existing classic users) would buy into this but only if it was idiot-proof and cheap (<$200).
2) Replacement classic motherboards for classic cases (I can see only limited sales).
3) Replacement classic motherboards (with cases?) and some modern updates (think Natami), again I think they would sell but only in limited amounts.
Basically any classic upgade (OS3.9) will start to compete with SAM and the X1000 (OS4.x) if it's too expensive.
I think a $39 "joystick" with some built in games and a SD memory card reader for the option of playing additional games from ADF images would sell.
:-)
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If it would support AGA (which it currently doesn't, as they focused on ECS), this would be the opportunity for everyone to get excited over having 8MB chip RAM in your A4000s.
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think a $39 "joystick" with some built in games and a SD memory card reader for the option of playing additional games from ADF images would sell.
I've had experiecne in the Toy industry, first off. A mass retailer is going to have a problem with a TV game unit that has an SD card interface. First off, sega, Nintendo MS, Sony will raise a stink becuase the whole purpose of an SD slot would be to play games that folks can obviously download for free. They will strong arm whatever retailer wants to carry this device. (of coruse this is the sort of thing you won't read about on Slashdot or game magazines becuase everyone does this monkey business on the down low)
An SD slot will undermid, XboxLive, Sony playstation store and all the classic game bundles arcade games these companies release.
Also lets face it. The Amiga gaming brand is more popular in Europe than the USA. So right off the bat this will be a hard sell to Walmart and Target. Their response will be. We already have Atari, SEGA, Colecovision, REAL ARCADE TV games. Why should we carry this one?
In the USA the Amiga was associated with failure (for those that even remember the brand name). Commodre also to this day has a bad rep for screwing with retailers, and is known as the company that went out of business because they couldn't sell that Amiga computer...
This is an impulse buy item,
So for a mass market item you don;t just release one TV GAME item. First you create a TV game Bundle that targets acade, another with sprots, and cater to specifice genres. You have to release them a few months apart from each other. Then like Jakks Pacific you use the FPGA platform to develop games based on licences for "evergreen" licenses like disney and the like.
I've done reasearch into the ASIC costs, The only way this would ever be released is as an FPGA version. I got costs of something like 200K upfront money for getting chips started. Then theres the issue of Non recoverable engineering. Then there's the issue of Amiga Inc and dealing with the legal costs of licensing whatever parts of the OS you have to. When you get two licensing legal teams talking to each other it gets expensive.
So you take the Angel investor route... or partner with a toy manufacturer..by the very act of approaching investors you're spliing the beans so to speak, now they can take you core idea and hire a low cost dev team in China who will do the cheapest solution (nowhere near as optimzed as Jens)
My point with this rant is that if it were simple it would have been done. As proven before in the Amiga scene. The folks who get things done these days are the expert hobbyist who release projects as opensource. I think EVENTUALLY someone will be able to reverse engineer the AGA chipset.
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With all that said I hope it can be done and that the developers and whoever owns the IP can come to some sort of agreement and release product.
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Jens should just make the Clone-A out of broccoli. That way, everyone's happy.
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I think EVENTUALLY someone will be able to reverse engineer the AGA chipset.
I thought it could already be done, but no one want to do it because it`s a more complex system without many benefits apart from graphics.
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Maybe Jens is the new owner and has just played an awsome double bluff :D
LOL!!! Thanks for that Bloodline, only you could come up with a good one like that.
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I was reading your thread and I thought that perhaps you could ask Jens directly:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=712137#post712137
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LMAO, he keeps it close to his chest huh. Working on the GUI, hmmmm......I need popcorn.
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I think a $39 "joystick" with some built in games and a SD memory card reader for the option of playing additional games from ADF images would sell.
:-)
Nah, you could build the Minimig into a cheap $10 keyboard (like I've done with mine), add a cheap mouse and a cheap joystick to the package. Sure it will up the cost a little, but at least it will be a "real" Amiga and not a crippled joystick-gaming device. I bought one of those C64-in-a-joystick things and it lasted less than an hour before it was thrown into a dark corner.
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Jens should just make the Clone-A out of broccoli. That way, everyone's happy.
I hate broccoli! I'm just going to wait for the regular silicon version instead. But as I'm busy typing I will say (once again), clone A, Minimig AGA or Natami....Whoever gets it done first gets the cash (well mine anyway, everyone else can spend what they have however they like). :)
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as long as he isnt taking anyones money, he can take as long as he wants :)
Very excited about this, the minimig AGA and the natami.
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Nah, you could build the Minimig into a cheap $10 keyboard (like I've done with mine), add a cheap mouse and a cheap joystick to the package. Sure it will up the cost a little, but at least it will be a "real" Amiga and not a crippled joystick-gaming device. I bought one of those C64-in-a-joystick things and it lasted less than an hour before it was thrown into a dark corner.
Wow, nothing like reviving old threads, right? ;)
I could of course be wrong in this, but I think the long term goal was never to make "real" Amiga's (meaning a full computer within a keyboard), but exactly those kind of gaming devices.
If you look at that old presentation he held at one Amiga convention some years ago (forgot the link, but can probably find it), he gets lots of questions on whether the thing will be improved and hotted up (added features, better performance, etc), but he categorically rejects this, saying that the point is a 100% HW compatible solution. It makes sense. A "gaming joystick" would be a real product (just like the C64 joystick), with a real market. Especially if it has the Amiga brand. A new "real" Amiga 500 could never be a product in 2010, at least not in comparison to the joystick.
Heck, the last months events surrounding Amiga Inc and Commodore USA might put new hopes to this project? The only place where the Amiga brand makes sense today (at least where it makes best sense), is for this kind of product. Amiga is retro, and it was about gaming for 90%+ of the customers. And I mean, if Commodore USA can get a license to the Amiga brand, why would it be impossible for Jens? :)
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There's no reason a joystick type AIO couldn't include a keypad as well.
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Wow, nothing like reviving old threads, right? ;)
I could of course be wrong in this, but I think the long term goal was never to make "real" Amiga's (meaning a full computer within a keyboard), but exactly those kind of gaming devices.
If you look at that old presentation he held at one Amiga convention some years ago (forgot the link, but can probably find it), he gets lots of questions on whether the thing will be improved and hotted up (added features, better performance, etc), but he categorically rejects this, saying that the point is a 100% HW compatible solution. It makes sense. A "gaming joystick" would be a real product (just like the C64 joystick), with a real market. Especially if it has the Amiga brand. A new "real" Amiga 500 could never be a product in 2010, at least not in comparison to the joystick.
Heck, the last months events surrounding Amiga Inc and Commodore USA might put new hopes to this project? The only place where the Amiga brand makes sense today (at least where it makes best sense), is for this kind of product. Amiga is retro, and it was about gaming for 90%+ of the customers. And I mean, if Commodore USA can get a license to the Amiga brand, why would it be impossible for Jens? :)
The problem is, so many Amiga games (at least the ones I like) require keyboard input and/or a mouse too/instead. This is why I think an Amiga-in-a-joystick would fail terribly. An Amiga in a PC keyboard with joystick and mouse ports would be far better and in reality a much more tempting product.
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The problem is, so many Amiga games (at least the ones I like) require keyboard input and/or a mouse too/instead. This is why I think an Amiga-in-a-joystick would fail terribly. An Amiga in a PC keyboard with joystick and mouse ports would be far better and in reality a much more tempting product.
Amiga-in-a-mouse? Amiga-in-a-track-ball? :afro:
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How conventional.
Amiga in a shoe! Footwear computing is the future!
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And for the Spanish Lesbians, we could have an Amiga in a .
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At this point I am far more interested in the Chameleon :cool:
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At this point I am far more interested in the Chameleon :cool:
Speaking of which, what has happened to that?
Every attempt I've made to joing the Yahoo C-One group ends in failure. I'm not even sure what the current core for the C-One is as I haven't seen an update for over a year. :(
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What about an Amiga In Haggis, Reckon I could make a few bob out of that during the Edinburgh festival, those American and Japanese tourists will buy anything that's even mildly scottish related even a silly prices... :roflmao:
(might be a bit unstable though, as a Haggis only has three legs... :) )
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The new Amiga case!
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51qP7C2vRwL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
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Speaking of which, what has happened to that?
This thread on Lemon64 (http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33001&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) has the latest information AFAIK.
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Wow.... an amiga version of such a device would be drool worthy..
I saw the Jens post on AIB.... hmmmm looks promising, he says Clone A hardaware is done working on interface if I remember correctly. This is the one I've been waiting for.
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An Amiga in a Joystick , AllInOne is NOT interesting for me ... But it might be sellable to some markets ...
Id rather have a A1000 or CDTV like box or possibly in the size of a MiniMig, with possibility to connect a keyboard and possibly 2-4 bluetooth competition pro's :-)
So to put it short, a nice flat A1000 box (maybe smaller though, maybe just the size of a minimig), with applicable ports for at minimum joysticks, keyboard, usb, SD/-HC would be my wish, a small or larger SSD and Action Replay ?
Bluetooth gamepads or a retooled comp pro, and atleast regular ports for keyboard and mouse is essentials.
Imagine just having the box by the TV / LCDTV and 4 people playing that old car game (I cant remember the name of right now, the multiplayer one) on wireless bluetooth gamepads ! :-D
That would surely sell to some retrofans and others who remember the Amiga, and then just grabbing the box and going upstairs, connecting it to your regular keyboard / mouse setup by the monitor .. !
Demo, tinkerer coding would be a main point for a CloneA for me, so a keyboard is neccessary.
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SuperCars?
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I think EVENTUALLY someone will be able to reverse engineer the AGA chipset.
They already have - UAE is AGA (and previous) reverse engineered and reimplemented it software, likewise the Minimig AGA is the same process but applied as FPGA code.
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@ Tone007
Great Idea... :)
Here's the early mock up of the new McAmiga 1200...
(http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/frankosamiga/Funny/McAmiga1200.jpg)
5Million GB RAM, 700 USB 4.0 Ports , Intergalactic Hyperdrive HD, and as many other goodies that can
be crammed into a shortbread tin.
(Should sell by the bucketload and put the Amiga back on top Again... :roflmao: )
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It's the Amiga Walker like you've never seen it before!
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I think the original Walker design kinda fell by the wayside...
http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/frankosamiga/Funny/5-walkers-crisps.jpg[/IMG]](http://i995.photobucket.com/albums/af79/frankosamiga/Funny/5-walkers-crisps.jpg) (http://[IMG)
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@ Tone007
Great Idea... :)
Here's the early mock up of the new McAmiga 1200...
5Million GB RAM, 700 USB 4.0 Ports , Intergalactic Hyperdrive HD, and as many other goodies that can
be crammed into a shortbread tin.
(Should sell by the bucketload and put the Amiga back on top Again... :roflmao: )
Intergalactic Hyperdrive? Pfft! Wake me up when you've installed an Infinite Improbability Drive! :p
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This thread on Lemon64 (http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33001&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0) has the latest information AFAIK.
Cheers Jim.
I have my original breadbox C64 PAL model from the UK with a fried serial port. This cartridge with floppy emulation might be just the thing for me. I've bought NTSC C128s, but they don't seem to like to play all games, even using my MMC cartidge (I haven't got one of them to play Revenge of the Mutant Camels off a D64 file).
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ah c'mon now be nice! we need Jens :-)
You can keep the nuts on your trees....
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Intergalactic Hyperdrive? Pfft! Wake me up when you've installed an Infinite Improbability Drive! :p
I was talking about reality, not some fabled myth from the Hitchhikers Guide... :roflmao:
Anyway I couldn't fit an Infinite Improbability Drive in, cos your the one with the Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver, remember... :)
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I was talking about reality, not some fabled myth from the Hitchhikers Guide... :roflmao:
Anyway I couldn't fit an Infinite Improbability Drive in, cos your the one with the Tardis and Sonic Screwdriver, remember... :)
You only saw my "little TARDIS", I also have my full size yard-art TARDIS:
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/darrin01311/IMAGE006.jpg)
Unfortunately, this year the termites ate it:
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/darrin01311/SDC10379s.jpg)
TARDIS MK2 is currently under construction (hoepfully it will be ready for the kids for Xmas):
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/darrin01311/TARDIS2.jpg)
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/darrin01311/TARDIS1.jpg)
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b134/darrin01311/TARDIS3.jpg)
;)
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:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
It's well seeing your at work and got plenty of time to kill... ;)
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:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:
It's well seeing your at work and got plenty of time to kill... ;)
LOL. It is because I've been working so much that it isn't finished. The original one took a third of the time.
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At this point I am far more interested in the Chameleon :cool:
ditto
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Cheers Jim.
I have my original breadbox C64 PAL model from the UK with a fried serial port. This cartridge with floppy emulation might be just the thing for me. I've bought NTSC C128s, but they don't seem to like to play all games, even using my MMC cartidge (I haven't got one of them to play Revenge of the Mutant Camels off a D64 file).
MMC64/MMC Replay is really bad for use with D64s. Get a uIEC or SD2IEC (with JiffyDOS!!!) and enjoy the inexpensive bliss.