Hyperion/A-EON introduce us to the AmigaOne X1000. A new beginning?

[persia]

Yeah, a computer that doesn't look like 1999...  Now for the price, OS News claims at a price less than A1000 originally, but they were coy using 1985 dollars so I'm not sure what that means...

If it comes out to a thousand 2010 US dollars it's going to be quite a tough decision for me to choose between the Mac Tablet and the X1000...

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The appear to have a niche they're going for, hobbyists who want something different, as far as I can see...

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Exactly, I've dumped cables in my house long ago.  My ADSL gets only 4 Mbs, Wireless is faster than that anywhere in the house and back garden.  My video machine (Mac Pro) is hardwired to my server but not to the internet.  That's really the only place it makes sense.

[persia]

It's not a generalist computer, the vast majority of people in the world would do much better with a PC.  Let's face it most people just want to read email, watch videos and do social networking.  They can get this far better and cheaper with a PC.  

But with the ubiquity of computers nowadays, there are a lot more hobbyists than you'd think, people who'd plunk down some cash for them just to play with it.  But it's price dependent, exceed USDollars 1000 for a complete system and you're sunk.  

But again we don't know what the CPU is, that's the missing information that can tell us wether this is mid or low range for a computer in 2010...

That would be the existing fanbase then...

I will be the first to say the last 10 years have left me with a pretty cynical view, but even so my reaction is essentially "meh..."

[persia]

The Power6 consumes a whole lot more than the 20 watts that A-Eon was talking about, it also runs at much higher clock speeds.  IBM reports it reaching 85 degrees when pushed to 5.6 GHz, but normal speed is around 3.8.  It's a server class chip.  One that would be a game changer, but doesn't fit the information we've been given....

The POWER6 processor is also compliant with the Power ISA v.2.04 specifications, and it's dual core.

It does not seem to be marketed to hobbists but rather to higher end markets that need processing power that would utilize the mentioned clustering technology. It would be in the Workstation level rather than the Desktop level.

[persia]

Not as bad as a battery acid enema that is...

It's actually not that bad with VirtualPC.

[persia]

And this is different to the current situation in what way?

If either one died, it is very unlikely it's user base would migrate over (hell would probably have to freeze first) and you'd be left with one expensive proprietary OS on fundamentally obsolete hardware that, in the absence of it's old sparring partner as a metric, has absolutely nothing to offer over free alternatives on up-to-date hardware. Only the most dedicated users would remain.

We currently have two expensive proprietary OSs on fundamentally obsolete hardware that have absolutely nothing to offer over free alternatives on up-to-date hardware. Only the most dedicated users remain.

[persia]

They were in Steve Job's office, propping up an iPad 3...

A-eon stated that they sourced them elsewhere with this announcement from the News section of their website. Due to the moronic design of that site it's not possible to directly link to news items, but if you extend the menu shaft by tapping on the menu head, and then touch the News ball, and select the article 22 Dec. 2010, you'll find this:

"Fortunately Varisys, our AmigaOne X1000 hardware partner, had a long-standing relationship with PA Semi and we were able to secure a supply of PA6T CPUs for the AmigaOne X1000 project"

What A-eon doesn't reveal is what source PA Semi directed them to. I presume it was a warehouse of new old stock, but who knows?



I thought that was the main arguments for sticking with PPC - because the x86 hardware changed too much over time?

Oh well.

[persia]

Form over function, the case is retro, the innards netbook.  Is it the shape of the C64 that made it a best seller or what it did?  The shape was horrible, it sat too high to properly type on, you had to expand it with all sorts of stuff hanging off it.  But it was all worth it for the C64 Basic that was just sitting there waiting for you.  You have to remember US$600 was cheap for a computer back then.  Nowadays US$600 will buy you a DIY quad core behemoth.

It's PC bling, nothing more.

Oh, he's a successful businessman? Well slap me silly! Clearly that makes him completely above any form of criticism for any of his actions or plans!

All hail Barry Altman, businessman extraordinaire!

[persia]

I suppose it's all part of marketing, if Steve Jobs can get a standing ovation for a (HDMI) cable maybe a retro style plastic case deserves some attention...

Given the state of the world it's hard to hold righteous indignation over a lump of plastic.  In the end he may or may not make a few bucks, he won't change the world, but 99.99999% of us won't change the world either.  If not changing the world is a crime then everyone here is probably guilty too...

Maybe, but how is that *bad*?

The need for "Bling" (depending how you define it) is a major source of commerce in most industries targeted to the developed world...

[persia]

Hard to justify one and a half thousand quid or more on something that is likely to be outclassed by phones in a year or so.....

[persia]

@tone007

Not to mention the rumours of a dual core A5 based iPhone 5 to be release in September. Somehow the slogan "X1000, almost as powerful as an iPhone 5" doesn't sit too well....

[persia]

PA6T is a dated chip, an old generation, Apple has gone on to A4 & A5 chips based on ARM rather than PowerPC.  They're dropping support for it next year.  It had military (UK, US) application, otherwise Apple would have dropped support a couple years ago.  If you think Apple is going to extend it's support then you don't know Apple's history.  Apple recently abandoned core duo, the first intel generation of Macs, that goes all the way back to 2006/7....

[persia]

Android uses BOTH cores of your 1 GHz Tegra 2 processor. so yes it likely is more powerful....

I agree, My Motorola Atrix would more than likely out perform the x1000, and has the software support to do so. Its unlikely the X1000 will offer any revolutionary software as they are generally just playing catchup with modern PC's using antiquated hardware.

[persia]

At £1500 I'm not interested, at £750 I would consider it, at £500 I probably would buy it....