Two new µ-A1's models on the way

[KimmoK]

"FAQ"

"Does the commercial model only accept 256M RAM?"

No, it has one SODIMM socket equipped with 256M SDRAM.

"And, what's the draw here just smaller size?"

Yes. (?)

"There's (much) less expansion"

There's also more included. Like GFX and audio.
With the ricer card these miniboards can go beyond A1XE capability. (not talking about the I model yet)

The I model can most likely handle more "features" than the XE, except faster 3D GFX.
(It seems almost unlimited because of the stackable PC/104, firewire, etc.)

"less performance,"

Why so? They most likely deliver the same or better performance than A1XE with the same CPU.

The I model has faster ATA interface, faster ethernet, etc...

btw: Desktop cluster workstation.

"and the same high price"

I think with these mini boards you get slightly more for slightly less.

"What are they marketing to?"

Amigans (AOS4 fans) and insustrial users (like themself ((multimedia kiosks etc.)), KMOS customers((broadband media whatever boxes))).



They might not be perfect. But they seem "ok" so far.   (I can see myself buying the mini I modell ... as the new micro does not seem to appear any time soon)

[KimmoK]

"µ-A1-C - gbp349 (ex VAT/sales tax/ex 100 EUR for OS4)"
(including GFX and the licence required for AOS4 compatibility)

"Pegasos II G4/1000 Motherboard ..."
(£340.41 ex vat and with quarranteed AOS4 incompatibility)

"I see a striking similarity, and even more striking differences. Honestly, I hoped for a way much more cheaper microA1..."

I think there is no sense in comparing those two. A1 is really targetted to  specific niches while peg2 is targetted to a wide open platform market (with 0% going to any OS R&D etc).

There is more sense in comparing MOS, AOS4 and their SW base and then to deside where to go and forget the rest.



For AOS4 branch:

uA1C 800 --- gbp349 (ex VAT/sales tax/ex 100 EUR for OS4) (Audio, GFX, MEM)
uA1I 800 --- gbp399 (ex VAT/sales tax/ex 100 EUR for OS4) (Audio, GFX, MEM, ATA133, PC/104, GigabitE, Firewire...etc etc)
A1XEG4 800 - gbp5oo (ex VAT/sales tax/ex 100 EUR for OS4) (slower CPU except Altivec, no Audio, no GFX, no MEM)

Now... uA1 start to look a lot more interesting. (if one is interested in the AOS4 side of world)

[KimmoK]

@warface

>ain't XE's having those G4s running at 933 MHz, which makes this silly argument really moot?

That does not make it moot.
Because they are sold as 800Mhz systems for some reason.
One can not buy them expecting them to operate 100% reliably @ 933 untill Eyetech says so.

Other thing is that L2 size of G4 is not set/fixed to 512kt on A1 systems. There must be noticeable difference with 800Mhz G4 with 256k L2 and 800Mhz G3 with 1024k L2, especially if (but perhaps it can) Artisia does not manage to deliver 100% of the FSB bandwidth.


Yet another point to consider with the XE model is that, "more quirks" seems to be one of it's features when comparing to mini boards, according to Alan Redhouse.