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[ElPolloDiabl]

Let's lighten up a bit. Power PC users enjoy your machine. :banana:

Everyone else go back to what you were doing. I'll be hoping on Natami.

[Karlos]

For a microcontroller, XMOS's chips can make 32 Sprites.  I think that is more than the Amiga ever did.  This is probably not the chip but one of their versions has four cores and is capable of 400 mips.

Your point is pointless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5eU8pHpy-c

It isn't really much use if it can't actually write said sprites into the display memory on the graphics card.

And, any modern graphics card will be able to throw around several million sprites by simply mapping their image as a texture onto a pair of edge sharing triangles to make a square.

[Karlos]

To be honest, I can't really see what the XMOS will be useful for within the machine (as opposed to connecting custom stuff to it), but the rest of the spec seems quite nice for running OS4 on. The DDR2, PCIe and SATA are all reasonably "current" generation stuff so it seems like a decent enough step up from my A1.

[redfox]

...

[persia]

I think you are right, the XMOS part is a puzzle.  It seems that XMOS are really designed to go on their own without a more powerful computer tied to them.  I don't the see value of their being mounted onto the motherboard.

It's not a very powerful system but it should do well with a lightweight OS.  Much better if they actually could make use of the second core at some point.  But 'tis enough for the target audience.  For years we've been saying forget about the world and target your core.  When they actually do that we blast them for it.  But it's the way to survive.  It's boutique computing and it works.

To be honest, I can't really see what the XMOS will be useful for within the machine (as opposed to connecting custom stuff to it), but the rest of the spec seems quite nice for running OS4 on. The DDR2, PCIe and SATA are all reasonably "current" generation stuff so it seems like a decent enough step up from my A1.

[x303]

Hm, I thought the speed was gonna be a lot more than 1.6Ghz. 1.8 isn't exacty that much more.
- 10 usb ports. Who need that much
-7.1 channel HD audio. Does OS4.x or any other program support this many channels already ?
- 1x Compact Flash. Why not support sd cards too, by default. Almost any tower has multiple card support nowadays.
And why not use ddr3 ? For a machine that cost that much and still only use ddr2....

And what about wireless ?! Is this gonna be added too ?

:afro:

[mongo]

And why not use ddr3 ? For a machine that cost that much and still only use ddr2....

Because you need a memory controller that supports DDR3 if you want to use it.

Besides, there would most likely be absolutely no performance benefit to using DDR3 in this machine.

[persia]

The more usb the better in PCs or Macs, but are their drivers for 10 usb devices in OS4?

Audio is supposed to be something handled by the OS, you don't bang the hardware, you let the OS drive the hardware and you don't care what's there.

Yeah, SD cards of pretty much the standard for cameras and have the biggest capacity.

DDR2 seems self defeating, why start with memory that's already out of date?  Things get out of date by themselves pretty quick, why start that way?

Hm, I thought the speed was gonna be a lot more than 1.6Ghz. 1.8 isn't exacty that much more.
- 10 usb ports. Who need that much
-7.1 channel HD audio. Does OS4.x or any other program support this many channels already ?
- 1x Compact Flash. Why not support sd cards too, by default. Almost any tower has multiple card support nowadays.
And why not use ddr3 ? For a machine that cost that much and still only use ddr2....

And what about wireless ?! Is this gonna be added too ?

:afro:

[Karlos]

DDR2 seems self defeating, why start with memory that's already out of date?  Things get out of date by themselves pretty quick, why start that way?

Sure it is, which is why you absolutely cannot buy any DDR2 motherboards elsewhere. Oh wait...

My PC uses DDR3 only. I got it about 18 months ago thinking the death knell for DDR2 had sounded. Since then there have been loads more DDR2 motherboards and DDR2 memory has become ever cheaper and more plentiful.

DDR2 is technically obsolete but in practise it's still widely used. The overall performance gain of DDR3 is not that great in truth. Sure you get faster transfers but then the latencies (in clocks) increase. I expect going from dual to triple channel will make a bigger difference than going from DDR2 to DDR3 in most cases.

[KimmoK]

"10 usb ports. Who need that much "

For multiplayer games like superskidmarks. ;-)

(but I rather see 8 atari port adapter for xorro, to use legacy digital joystics)

[x303]

Because you need a memory controller that supports DDR3 if you want to use it.

Besides, there would most likely be absolutely no performance benefit to using DDR3 in this machine.

Yeah, but if you make a brand new machine that cost *that* much (even more than some macs) you might suggest it uses the lastest ddr.

[Debaser]

Hm, I thought the speed was gonna be a lot more than 1.6Ghz. 1.8 isn't exacty that much more.
- 10 usb ports. Who need that much

Ohhh what a great time for a "Spinal Tap" reference....

Sorry.

[wawrzon]

- 10 usb ports. Who need that much

i suppose that this indicates again that the board in question is genuinely or primarly meant for something else than running amiga os. there are a lot of strange things about this board, not even as if there were any compromises made, but more as if the board would target a completely different segment and the explanations that have been given, sound like mere excuses, than reflecting actually optimal design decisions made with amiga os and its philosophy in mind. at least it looks to me like that. very much like the sam solution.

[antikk]

Whats so strange about 10 usb2 ports???
Just looked at several stationary computers and they almost have the same amount of usb plugs.

[kolla]

Whats so strange about 10 usb2 ports?

 The only strange thing about it, is the lack of proper usb-stack in AmigaOS4.

[antikk]

Usb will be updated when the x1000 is released. And the only thing from not making it into the update 1 was because they wanted to test it more before releasing it.