AmigaOS 3.1 source code leak - official statement

[Gulliver]

I am sorry to burst your bubble, but the document contains details, what was out there was general information. It is a good read as there are lots of conclusions that can be driven by interpreting it, and it sheds some light on some previously unheard hardware.

[Aegis]

They didn't even know Sony were coming, they were only thinking of 3do/Atari/Nintendo/Sega.

Well, to be fair *nobody* saw Sony coming. If Sony hadn't played their hand as brilliantly as they did, Sega might still be making hardware today.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Only out of idle curiosity, is this historic documentation you guys are talking about freely distributable?  Or is it also protected in the same manner as the source code?

[eliyahu]

@Oldsmobile_Mike

i'm trying to find out. stay tuned.

-- eliyahu

[Gulliver]

The document I mentioned can be located inside the archive in this area:

os-source/other/documents/futprod.doc

[psxphill]

I am sorry to burst your bubble, but the document contains details, what was out there was general information.

"Everything you mentioned was well known for years"

I hate to burst your bubble, but I stand what I said. The document contains a few things that hadn't been mentioned before, but you failed to mention them. There are a few interesting hardware fantasies in there, but we know that commodore built lots of hardware that they didn't ship.

John DiLullo who was credited as a contributor in the document doesn't seem to keen on the Amiga a few months later.

http://www.amigareport.com/ar205/p1-11.html

Well, to be fair *nobody* saw Sony coming. If Sony hadn't played their hand as brilliantly as they did, Sega might still be making hardware today.

Commodore needed a 3d console out in 1993 to put Sony off, if commodore UK controlled R&D then things would have been different. Sega knew Sony were coming as after the Nintendo partnership fell through they tried to do a deal with Sega, they also turned down SGI's Ultra 64 as well. Sega were arrogant, like commodore....

OT: I want to know if the UHRES in ECS/AGA that was removed in AAA, is what Jay Miner was going on about when talked about VRAM chips that had already been designed

http://www.thule.no/haynie/research/nyx/docs/AAA.pdf

"The ECS "Ultra hires" registers have been eliminated, as they were never supported in actual practice"

http://www.thule.no/haynie/chips/aa/regbits.pdf

[slimf]

While Hyperion might not like the release, and I tend to err on the side of the copy-write holder... in this case, it will be cool to see what patches and enhancements can be done that will run on existing hardware, and whats possible on faster hardware like FPGA's etc.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

John DiLullo who was credited as a contributor in the document doesn't seem to keen on the Amiga a few months later.

http://www.amigareport.com/ar205/p1-11.html

Wow, could only get through the first few paragraphs of that.  By the time I got to "the fanatical Amiga owners are an embarrassment to Commodore" I was hoping this guy got hit by a bus.  

I remember reading AmigaReport back in the day.  But I don't remember that article.  Probably just as well, lol.  

[Aegis]

Commodore needed a 3d console out in 1993 to put Sony off

Commodore released the CD32 in September 1993 to compete with the Sega CD and the 3DO (which it did - for its short lifespan it was the top-selling CD platform in the EU). It was discontinued in April 1994 when Commodore went bankrupt.

The Saturn didn't hit Japan until November 1994 (mid-1995 in the US/EU) and the PlayStation didn't arrive in the US/EU until September 1995.

Neither the Saturn nor especially the PlayStation were implicit in the downfall of the Amiga/CD32 - that was all down to Commodore. As it was, they couldn't manufacture enough CD32s to meet demand because of their debt problems (they were having to pay for everything in cash).

[kamelito]

Sega didn't see 3D coming, they correct it with the Dreamcast but they choose PowerVR over 3DFX that EA wanted, so no EA games...
Kamelito

[psxphill]

Commodore released the CD32 in September 1993 to compete with the Sega CD and the 3DO (which it did - for its short lifespan it was the top-selling CD platform in the EU). It was discontinued in April 1994 when Commodore went bankrupt.

The Saturn didn't hit Japan until November 1994 (mid-1995 in the US/EU) and the PlayStation didn't arrive in the US/EU until September 1995.

Neither the Saturn nor especially the PlayStation were implicit in the downfall of the Amiga/CD32 - that was all down to Commodore. As it was, they couldn't manufacture enough CD32s to meet demand because of their debt problems (they were having to pay for everything in cash).

I didn't say that the PlayStation was directly responsible for commodores demise. There were a lot of CD32's manufactured, you couldn't move for them in the UK before and after the bankruptcy. They couldn't be imported into the US because of the xor patent. Commodore's bankruptcy was more to do with the banks believing that they were worth more now than if they lent them more money to continue trading while the management spent money on planes/hotels/etc

The date that Saturn/PlayStation arrived in the EU/US is irrelevant. European developers had started getting development kits before commodore went under. People knew they were coming.

Sega didn't see 3D coming, they correct it with the Dreamcast but they choose PowerVR over 3DFX that EA wanted, so no EA games...
Kamelito

Yeah it was only Nintendo that realised how important 3D was going to be for games. They teamed up with Argonaut before the SNES launched to create the SuperFX. Sony will have known about it from when they were working with Nintendo on the "Play Station". Sony's technical experience with 3D was from SystemG for video editing.

[TheMagicM]

I am sorry to burst your bubble, but the document contains details, what was out there was general information. It is a good read as there are lots of conclusions that can be driven by interpreting it, and it sheds some light on some previously unheard hardware.

sounds like its worth downloading.

[Iggy]

commodore let it fade away, but third parties insistance on ppc was the final blow that actually killed away what was was left of it.

Not...quite...yet, but Hyperion might mange it eventually.
And I am ambivalent to specific ISAs.
68K is dead, we moved to PPCs, we can moved again.

Its you flat earthers that were the actual final blow.
So go play your old 2D games and blow.

[Iggy]

I think the Tabor 1222 would be ideal for you, I will most likely get one.

For Blake? Doubtful.
Unfortunately even Haynie has this one figured out by now, if some of us haven't.

Tabor introduces a crippled CPU when better processors are available.

At this point moving to X64 seems the best course.

[eliyahu]

@thread

since there was such an interest in the commodore planning document we have been discussing, i contacted hyperion entertainment directly via email and requested permission to publish this document for those interested and am pleased to report back that permission has been granted. you can have a read-through here:

http://intuitionbase.com/misc/FutureProductOptions_dist.pdf

a big thank you to the hyperion directors for taking the time to review the document and allow its publication for historical purposes.

-- eliyahu

[Iggy]

@thread

since there was such an interest in the commodore planning document we have been discussing, i contacted hyperion entertainment directly via email and requested permission to publish this document for those interested and am pleased to report back that permission has been granted. you can have a read-through here:

http://intuitionbase.com/misc/FutureProductOptions_dist.pdf

a big thank you to the hyperion directors for taking the time to review the document and allow its publication for historical purposes.

-- eliyahu

Neat.
A quick snapshot from the edge of doom.
For once I am in Hyperion's debt.