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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Hardware News => Topic started by: Argo on June 06, 2006, 05:21:16 PM

Title: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Argo on June 06, 2006, 05:21:16 PM
Apple and Genesi do not have a monopoly to provide consumer-oriented PPC hardware.
Out of the Amiga sphere two new companies come forward with the intend to offer new desktop options based on Freescale's most powerful G4 chip ever.

The first company is ACK Software Controls from Canada, a four person operation that will develop a carrier board for their 1.7 GHz MPC7448 card which will be compatible with AmigaOne-XE and going to be demonstrated at a public event on June 10th, 2006.

Read the rest of the article at PPCnux (http://www.ppcnux.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=6413#troika).
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Matt_H on June 06, 2006, 07:28:58 PM
Perhaps someone could explain why the UD Tech board's PCI slots are facing in opposite directions?

The specs are nice, but the board layout doesn't look ready for the consumer market - hopefully this will be addressed.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: djbase on June 06, 2006, 07:50:25 PM
This is an Evaluation Board which is aimed for Developers and not for Enduser.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: mongo on June 06, 2006, 08:55:33 PM
Quote
Perhaps someone could explain why the UD Tech board's PCI slots are facing in opposite directions?


They're not.

One is for 5v cards, and the other is for 3.3v cards. I'd assume the PCI-66 slot is the 3.3v one.

PCI cards either have a key in the front for 5v, a key in the back for 3.3v or both for a universal card.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: keropi on June 06, 2006, 09:40:15 PM
...another 500euro board... yeah right!
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: motorollin on June 06, 2006, 09:43:42 PM
Getting bored of being told about these new boards and not being able to use them! When will we be able to buy the bloody things?

--
moto
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: humppa on June 06, 2006, 09:54:40 PM
What a weird board layout and form factor.

Now I can perfectly understand why Troika only showed us a small part of the board in their announcement!

:lol:
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Savan on June 06, 2006, 10:05:07 PM
Quote
Getting bored of being told about these new boards and not being able to use them! When will we be able to buy the bloody things?


They like to dangle that stale carrot in front of the waiting. Also the board looks crappy, which no doubt if it does come out will include Amiga TAX (ie a ridiculous high price).

Screw the custom {bleep}e and put the OS on REAL available hardware.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Tigger on June 06, 2006, 10:13:10 PM
Oh I dont think they'll be able to sell them at 500 Euros, the price will be dependent upon the processor installed, and how soon it comes to market, because G4's are dropping in price. But right now with a 1.7 Ghz G4 (what they are touting) that board is 4 figures US at least, and then we have the OS 4 tax tacked on.   Or you could get a 1.42 Ghz G4 Mac Mini (whole computer) for $600.  Its silly that after a year of no hardware availability and a shrinking installed base for the OS, they still have no real plans, and are hoping to use an expensive motherboard to move the OS forward.
    -Tig
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: humppa on June 06, 2006, 10:44:15 PM
Quote
Its silly that after a year of no hardware availability and a shrinking installed base for the OS, they still have no real plans, and are hoping to use an expensive motherboard to move the OS forward.


I'm not even sure if they are really hoping for this, or what has even been done so far.

They might have been looking for a mainboard picture with a TSI109 that is not easily retrievable just by browsing Google Images. They found the Chinese company and asked for specs/image of that board. Maybe they even loosely asked if they could license the design for production.
Enough to make a news release that perfectly compensates for the apparent failure of their own (Amy'05) design and that is well placed exactly one day after ACK announced their PV TL board.
 :roll:
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Nitro on June 06, 2006, 11:26:56 PM
I`m not trying to be mean or something but what is the point of this.  It wouldn`t be any different if I was to say that NITROTEC has a new mainboard for OS4 called the Unicorn, designed by s company in germany called bPlan.  To me it just seems that it`s a board by somebody else and their gonna put their sticker on it.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: humppa on June 06, 2006, 11:35:27 PM
Quote
To me it just seems that it`s a board by somebody else and their gonna put their sticker on it.


Like Eyetech putting an AmigaOne sticker on a crappy Teron-board.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Lando on June 06, 2006, 11:37:34 PM
Interesting board.  I think the lack of an AGP or PCI-E slot is a strange choice.  Do they even make PCI graphics cards any more?

And only 2 PCI slots. After you plug in your graphics card you've only got one slot left so they'd better hope everything on the motherboard functions as it should.

What form factor is that? I've never seen a case that would fit with that weird arrangement of ports.

What does that comment mean on PPCNUX about
Quote
there will be certain entities going out of their way to pull the rug from under Troikas feet

? Anyone know who they're talking about?
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: humppa on June 06, 2006, 11:45:56 PM
Quote
? Anyone know who they're talking about?


Nobody. There are not many other bedroom projects that are as insane to license/produce a "high-end" board for this tiny market without making any money.

And even if there was one to pull the rug from under Troikas feet, I wouldn't mind. Enough with their carrot-dangling and fluffy news releases.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Savan on June 07, 2006, 12:05:39 AM
Quote
Oh I dont think they'll be able to sell them at 500 Euros


Easily. You can put any price on crap hardware what runs OS4 and you know damn well waiting amiga die hards will buy them (even if they dont come with a warranty/guarantee or any other support from the company where purchased from)

Amigans wanted it this way, so sit back and let them enjoy it :lol:
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Matt_H on June 07, 2006, 12:14:59 AM
Quote
This is an Evaluation Board which is aimed for Developers and not for Enduser.


Exactly, but if I'm reading that article correctly, Troika is going to be selling *that* board to OS4 endusers, not something based on it. To me, that says "bad idea" - no one will take the Amiga seriously with hardware like that.

And ACK's board doesn't sound so great either. A bare board with a gazillion slots on it is a huge step backwards - that's how PCs were sold in the 286 days. Hopefully their "2007" board will be better.

That being said, the prices seem fair given the insanely low production volumes.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Lando on June 07, 2006, 12:17:28 AM
Quote
Quote

Oh I dont think they'll be able to sell them at 500 Euros


Easily. You can put any price on crap hardware what runs OS4 and you know damn well waiting amiga die hards will buy them (even if they dont come with a warranty/guarantee or any other support from the company where purchased from)

Amigans wanted it this way, so sit back and let them enjoy it


What Tigger said was that Troika will not be able to sell this board at 500 Euros - not in a 'people wouldn't pay 500 for it' sense but in a 'if Troika marketed the board at 500 Euros they'd be making a loss' sense.

The board will be way more expensive than 500 Euros.  And I don't think people are so naive anymore, after the AmigaOne fiasco, so I'd be surprised if they sold more than a few dozen of these.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Savan on June 07, 2006, 12:33:23 AM
Yes. In the real world Troika has to compete but in the Amiga world they can charge what the hell they want (to a limit).

Quote
And I don't think people are so naive anymore, after the AmigaOne fiasco, so I'd be surprised if they sold more than a few dozen of these.


If it runs OS4 then all senses go out of the window. The Amigaone fiasco proved you can take a giant dump on Amiga users and they will wipe themselves clean and beg for more.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: humppa on June 07, 2006, 12:41:01 AM
Quote
Yes. In the real world Troika has to compete but in the Amiga world they can charge what the hell they want (to a limit).


Price is not relevant:

http://tinyurl.com/fmks9

 :lol:
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: SHADES on June 07, 2006, 01:04:10 AM
@Matt_H

"And ACK's board doesn't sound so great either. A bare board with a gazillion slots on it is a huge step backwards - that's how PCs were sold in the 286 days. Hopefully their "2007" board will be better."

That's just your opinion though Matt. There's nothing wrong with having an expandable mainboard. It allows for easy expansion and opens up a lot of development for 3rd party add on cards.
It's just what i'm looking for. If you want high speed USB, plug it in. if you want a mulit I/O plug that in. Dual NIC? Firewire?  
Digital Tuner, Hi Res toaster etc etc etc.

At least people won't have to pay for features they won't need or want, they just add in what they do want to use. A most perfect solution for me and i don't have to pay for that stupid on board slow firewire port that perhaps you do want.

I totaly dissagree with you here I'm afraid. Just because something is expandable doesn't make it old technology either. I'd like to see a G4 expandable mainboard that's from the 286 days ;)
Nothing backward about it.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Matt_H on June 07, 2006, 03:35:44 AM
@ SHADES

Yeah, it is just my opinion :-)

Quote
It's just what i'm looking for. If you want high speed USB, plug it in. if you want a mulit I/O plug that in. Dual NIC? Firewire?
Digital Tuner, Hi Res toaster etc etc etc.

Okay, suit yourself. I'd rather have things onboard, though. And here's why:

Quote
At least people won't have to pay for features they won't need or want, they just add in what they do want to use. A most perfect solution for me and i don't have to pay for that stupid on board slow firewire port that perhaps you do want.

The problem is we're still locked in to specific components - none of these boards ship with Amiga drivers, so we need Amiga developers to write them for us. And when the manufacturers phase out and replace their cards with new designs, well, there goes the argument that PCI hardware is cheap and plentiful. Amiga drivers don't exist for the new card - I still need the old one. And I can't go to my local PC megastore and get an SIL680 card - I still need to get it from an Amiga dealer. Look at how much trouble people have had finding a Radeon compatible with OS4. Mounting essential items onboard eliminates these problems.

Quote
I totaly dissagree with you here I'm afraid. Just because something is expandable doesn't make it old technology either. I'd like to see a G4 expandable mainboard that's from the 286 days ;)
Nothing backward about it.

Don't get me wrong, I love slots, it's just that I'd rather be filling them with fun things like MPEG decoders and TV tuners, rather than essential system components like IDE and USB.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: B00tDisk on June 07, 2006, 05:26:20 AM
---
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: adolescent on June 07, 2006, 05:30:36 AM
The UDTech board looks like a STB board.  I guess if it works, and is cheap enough, people will find a way to get it into a box.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: c64_d0c on June 07, 2006, 01:01:53 PM
{bleep} HARDWARE DIE!!!!!!!!!!!  :-x
________
Paxil Lawsuit Settlements (http://www.classactionsettlements.org/lawsuit/paxil/)
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: humppa on June 07, 2006, 01:05:03 PM
Quote
I guess if it works, and is cheap enough, people will find a way to get it into a box.


One thing is for sure: It won't be cheap.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Savan on June 07, 2006, 02:10:45 PM
Quote
Price is not relevant:


Those hobbyists (using the name hyperion) crack me up at times, of course the price is relevant when buying hardware.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Legerdemain on June 07, 2006, 03:20:55 PM
I find it rather tragic that people can't seem to behave on communities.

How hard can it be?

Stop trolling.
Stop bashing.

If there is something to dislike... please dislike... but at least try to make them posts look at least like they are TRYING to be CONSTRUCTIVE.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Savan on June 07, 2006, 04:01:09 PM
Yes my last comment went over the top, so will edit it.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Legerdemain on June 07, 2006, 04:06:15 PM
@Savan

I'm sorry if it seemed like I aimed my angst towards your post. That wasn't my intention. It was the overall mood of this thread I felt was getting out of hand.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: bhoggett on June 08, 2006, 03:34:13 AM
I'm afraid I can't imagine spending that sort of money for hardware with those specificications even in my wildest dreams, and I'm sure I'm not alone - though the premise that there is a section of the Amiga crowd who will buy anything put in front of them regardless of price and quality has a ring of truth about it.

I can see a few dozen boards being sold, followed by the company providing them going bust and any warranties being voided, leaving a whole bunch of suckers doggedly refusing to accept they made a mistake yet again.

It's actually sad to see the same policies, same mistakes, same promises, same folly and the same pattern repeating ad infinitum. I see that on AWN more and more people are questioning the wisdom of this approach, which shows that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time. Sooner or later you get found out.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: reflect on June 08, 2006, 08:09:30 PM
Yeah, a few dozens sold... maybe even a hundred. And ofcourse, warranties won't be honoured, cause..   yeah, cause.. ehm.. some other company didn't honour the warranties. And, it's so much money (cause that's already been established.. ) that just about only the suckers wants to get a new motherboard capable of running the Amiga OS..

Nice of you to condemn the efforts of others, without knowing any real, hard facts. Nice of you to condemn others, who just want a computer with an OS they love. Sorry, but..  Who are you, to condemn them, btw?
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Lando on June 08, 2006, 11:06:42 PM
Nobody is condemning anyone.  People just aren't impressed with this board, is all.

Quote

only the suckers wants to get a new motherboard capable of running the Amiga OS..


Motherboards and computers capable of running OS4 are available (Pegasos, PPC Mac) and are running OS4 right now (albeit behind closed doors, since it's a violation of the EULA which I do not condone, just as the people running OS X on their A1's or Pegs are violating Apple's EULA).

You mean allowed to run OS4 which is different from capable.  Nobody has said that this board has a license for OS4, or that it will ever have a license, or that Troika has the 20k to pay Hyperion for the port if it does.

I'm sorry if you feel upset, but nobody here is attacking OS4, just the ridiculous situation that is has come to be in.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Legerdemain on June 08, 2006, 11:39:08 PM
Quote
Nobody is condemning anyone. People just aren't impressed with this board, is all.


Not true, there have been some condemnations in this thread, actually.


Quote
Motherboards and computers capable of running OS4 are available (Pegasos, PPC Mac) and are running OS4 right now (albeit behind closed doors, since it's a violation of the EULA which I do not condone, just as the people running OS X on their A1's or Pegs are violating Apple's EULA).

You mean allowed to run OS4 which is different from capable. Nobody has said that this board has a license for OS4, or that it will ever have a license, or that Troika has the 20k to pay Hyperion for the port if it does.


When it comes to what is allowed, and what is not, this is actually a matter of where you live. I'm 99.9% percent sure that if you live in Sweden you are allowed to, heh, can't find a nice way of putting this so that it sounds sensible... but... you are allowed to 'legally violate', for example, Apple's EULA. We have something called "private usage" which in this particular case would mean that if you want to run MacOSX on your A1 at home you are perfectly free to legally do so... just like you don't have to obey Nintendo's EULA claiming you are not allowed to make backups of their game cartridges/discs... you are actually even free to, if you feel like it, hack your copy of OS4 to make it run on your Pegasos. If running a company, letting your hired people run MacOSX on the computers owned by the company would of course be illegal, still. And you can of course not make a copy of OS4 and share it with a friend, which would be piracy.

For how long this 'private usage' will remain untouched here in Sweden, is probably just a matter of time. But, I think Swedes are pretty happy about the way things are now and I do not think that, especially after the Pirate Bay razzia fiasco, the government is particularly keen on changing the law concerning 'private usage', even if EU would want them to do so; it would just be adding fuel to the fire raging amongst the population at the moment.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: SHADES on June 09, 2006, 12:31:58 AM
@ Matt H

Quote

The problem is we're still locked in to specific components - none of these boards ship with Amiga drivers, so we need Amiga developers to write them for us. And when the manufacturers phase out and replace their cards with new designs, well, there goes the argument that PCI hardware is cheap and plentiful. Amiga drivers don't exist for the new card - I still need the old one. And I can't go to my local PC megastore and get an SIL680 card - I still need to get it from an Amiga dealer. Look at how much trouble people have had finding a Radeon compatible with OS4. Mounting essential items onboard eliminates these problems.


Why would an Amiga HW developer 3rd party or otherwise, release hardware for AMIGA OS without a driver for it? I don't see your point here. My Z3 fastlane wasn't made by commodore and it came with it's own driver. It won't make a difference if a new mainboard gets produced with a new ATI on board that's not compatible Vs a new ATI graphics card put in to the PC. The good thing about the expandable PC is u can always put your compatible card back in till the new driver is released.

Quote
Don't get me wrong, I love slots, it's just that I'd rather be filling them with fun things like MPEG decoders and TV tuners, rather than essential system components like IDE and USB.


And with an expandable system, you could do that.
Better than 1 or 2 slots and having to compromise on what's going in to them.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Matt_H on June 09, 2006, 01:27:44 AM
@ SHADES

I think you misunderstood my argument a bit. I'll try to be a little less convoluted:

1. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different IDE PCI cards exist. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different USB PCI cards exist. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different Firewire PCI cards exist. Etc.

2. With the limited resources of the Amiga developer community, we'll see Amiga drivers for one, maybe two, IDE or USB or Firewire cards, tops.

3. The manufacturers of those cards don't give a damn about the Amiga.

4. The manufacturers of those cards stop producing them in favor of new ones - for which the Amiga driver is incompatible. This has already happened with PCMCIA Ethernet cards.

5. Thus we're back to tracking down old, compatible parts on eBay and paying far more than they're worth.

But, by putting all those things on the motherboard, the Amiga hardware manufacturer would have to be insane not to ship drivers for them. The user only has to buy one item - the motherboard (er, and hard disk) - to have a ready-to-go system.

Quote
My Z3 fastlane wasn't made by commodore and it came with it's own driver.

Right, but it was designed from the beginning to be an Amiga product. PCI cards aren't. See points 3 and 4.

Quote
It won't make a difference if a new mainboard gets produced with a new ATI on board that's not compatible Vs a new ATI graphics card put in to the PC.

If the ATI circuitry is to be integrated to the Amiga motherboard, the manufacturer sure as hell better make it compatible! Look at the A1 (controversy aside): drivers exist for all its onboard components. Look at the Pegasos: drivers exist for all its onboard components. But with all the subtle variation between AGP Radeon cards, Amiga developers have had a really hard time making everyone's card work 100% properly.

Quote
The good thing about the expandable PC is u can always put your compatible card back in till the new driver is released.

In the case of this hypothetical Amiga, IF you already have a compatible card. IF a new driver is ever released. See points 5 and 2.

Quote
And with an expandable system, you could do that.
Better than 1 or 2 slots and having to compromise on what's going in to them.

Yes! Right! See, I think we actually do really agree here. I'm saying that a board should have essential components integrated AND have around 4 slots. That way, developers can focus their efforts on producing drivers for fun expansion cards rather than trying to support all the different IDE/USB/Firewire cards that people might end up buying.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: SHADES on June 09, 2006, 03:14:18 AM
@ Matt_H

No, I understood, I just didn't agree with everything u said.
Quote
1. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different IDE PCI cards exist. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different USB PCI cards exist. Dozens, if not hundreds, of different Firewire PCI cards exist. Etc.

Great! bring it on. If a hardware manufacturer sticks to the design standard for IDE (not hard) and releases a card for AMIGA, they will release a driver along with the hardware. I don't care if it's a phase 5 IDE or a commodore IDE card or ATI, or VIA or whatever, in fact I think it's a great idea. Every company can compete to make a better AMIGA IDE card, with it's own driver. If you're talking about supporting existing IBM-clone/PC hardware, that's a totaly different story, but it wouldn't be developed for AMIGA then or by an AMIGA - HARDWARE company would it.
Who says u have to buy a PC graphics card. Someone  may make Picasso07-3d that is AGP complient or PCI-X form factor. Nothing to do with ATI. Or perhaps NewTec make a toaster to plug in to pci-X. They provide their own drivers. If your expecting the new AMIGA OS to support ALL PC complient harware with drivers from get go, you better chuk in the towel now.
Just because something is on a main board doesn't mean u don't need drivers for them. I'd rather buy a card from the company who sold me the mainboard so I know it's for AMIGA OS and so I can have say SCSI instead of the IDE card. Perhaps their card will have both? What I was talking about was choice. Choose your platform. Don't pay for stuff u dont want or will use. Plus this way I'm suporting the AMIGA hardware development, not ATI or VIA or ITE who are all less than interested in AMIGA platform and OS ;)

Quote
2. With the limited resources of the Amiga developer community, we'll see Amiga drivers for one, maybe two, IDE or USB or Firewire cards, tops.


So? will those cards be somehow inferior because they are from AMIGA H/W manufacturers? perhaps those cards will have USB/FIREWIRE/Paralell/Serial/PS2 all on one card?

Quote
3. The manufacturers of those cards don't give a damn about the Amiga.


Oh, but a motherboard manufacturer does?

Quote
4. The manufacturers of those cards stop producing them in favor of new ones - for which the Amiga driver is incompatible. This has already happened with PCMCIA Ethernet cards.

Good!. Progress.
I'll have a USB3 card thanks. And it will be just as compatible because the manufacturer will be designing the card for AMIGA OS and provide the driver with the hardware or they wouldn't make the card. :)

Quote
In the case of this hypothetical Amiga, IF you already have a compatible card. IF a new driver is ever released. See points 5 and 2.

Why is this hypothetical, I was just re-iterating what u previosly were saying. You were complaining that nothing over a certain series with ATI was working. So plug in a card that does work. If it was soldered to the mainboard, you be stuffed.

Quote
Yes! Right! See, I think we actually do really agree here. I'm saying that a board should have essential components integrated AND have around 4 slots. That way, developers can focus their efforts on producing drivers for fun expansion cards rather than trying to support all the different IDE/USB/Firewire cards that people might end up buying.


My point is that by offereing add-on cards as another avenu for development wil encourage further hardware to be made for AMIGA by AMIGA hardware companies and allow those companies to compete for better and better designs. It was never about trying to support all PC hardware, that's not possible. Those companies don't develop for AMIGA, they develop for Windows and are not interested in a small community. At least this way, you support the AMIGa hardware manufactures and make it attractive for other h/w companies to make stuff for this platform. Weather it's IDE, SCSI, RAID, Graphics, Wireless or HD-TV, there would now exist an oppertunity to create a h/w soultion and end user device to suit anyone. Just plug in what you require and support further development on the AMIGA h/w scene. Catweazel 6?
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Matt_H on June 09, 2006, 05:51:35 AM
@ SHADES

I think we're getting closer to understanding each other :-)

Quote
If you're talking about supporting existing IBM-clone/PC hardware, that's a totaly different story, but it wouldn't be developed for AMIGA then or by an AMIGA - HARDWARE company would it.

Yes, it would be great if we could have different manufacturers producing competing IDE cards for the Amiga, but our market's far too small. Plus no Amiga hardware gurus are going to develop their own IDE boards when so many exist already.

Quote
Who says u have to buy a PC graphics card. Someone may make Picasso07-3d that is AGP complient or PCI-X form factor. Nothing to do with ATI. Or perhaps NewTec make a toaster to plug in to pci-X. They provide their own drivers.

That'd be totally cool, but not economically or competitively viable. ATI, nVidia, etc. literally have armies of researchers and engineers at their disposal. An Amiga developer couldn't possibly match their collective capabilites.

Quote
So? will those cards be somehow inferior because they are from AMIGA H/W manufacturers? perhaps those cards will have USB/FIREWIRE/Paralell/Serial/PS2 all on one card?

No, they're not inferior, they just don't exist. If an Amiga developer were to produce such a board, it'd cost just as much as an expensive Zorro board because of the low production volume. The point of PCI is that it's a universally accepted, cross-platform standard. If Amiga hardware people are going to be building their own PCI cards (unique products like the Catweasel excepted), we might as well just go back to ZorroIII.

Quote
Oh, but a motherboard manufacturer does?

If they're intending to sell that board as an Amiga they should!

Quote
I'll have a USB3 card thanks. And it will be just as compatible because the manufacturer will be designing the card for AMIGA OS and provide the driver with the hardware or they wouldn't make the card. :)

In this case, it'd be cheaper for a developer to write a driver for an existing card.

Quote
So plug in a card that does work.

Got to find one first.

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If it was soldered to the mainboard, you be stuffed.

No, because the motherboard would have been sold with drivers.

Quote
My point is that by offereing add-on cards as another avenu for development wil encourage further hardware to be made for AMIGA by AMIGA hardware companies and allow those companies to compete for better and better designs

And my point is that the pool of Amiga developers is stretched far too thin - if we don't have the resources to write drivers, how can anyone be expected to design and manufacture redudant PCI hardware from scratch?
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Matt_H on June 09, 2006, 06:25:59 AM
Amendment to the above: The short, short version

We can't possibly support all PCI hardware, so that which can be supported should be integrated into a new motherboard to preemptively solve eventual supply shortages. This applies to critical system elements only: IDE/SATA, USB, basic sound. This frees up developers from the task of writing drivers for basic operation and allows them to work on interesting peripherals and expansions.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Savan on June 09, 2006, 11:13:08 AM
Yes but that could end up being a cheap board to the end users, which in Amigaland anything which is not underpowered and overpriced is a no-no. Fast & cheap hardware and the amiga do not mix.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Legerdemain on June 09, 2006, 12:02:18 PM
Actually I kind of agree with both MattH and Savan.

Yes, Savan, I also find a rather strange opinion often obvious within the community against running the OS on rather 'ordinary' hardware. When discussion have been held concerning OS4 and X86 the argument 'too much hardware to support' have often been raised... but in theory nothing would be different from what it is like now with using a Mediatorsolution or simply using the Amiga One; they both have PCI-slots and only certain PCI-hardware is supported. Just because more hardware becomes available to use doesn't mean that the OS HAVE to support them all.

But, MattH, yes, the chance of the PCI-cards stopped being produced leaving the users to have to search all over the place to find the appropriate PCI-cards (and sometimes pay rather much money to get hold of them) is not to be denied.

Personally I would prefer to have a rather ordinary motherboard to run OS4 on, with only certain PCI-cards supported, because that would lower the price of the boards and probably also raise the sales of the boards which, according to me, would only be of good for future productionruns and overall sales of the hardware.

I have yet not bothered about the AmigaOne for one reason only; I can't motivate myself to pay that much money! When the motherboards arrived they were expensive. Now when they are no longer produced they are even MORE expensive to get hold of second-hand. Chances are, if too expensive, that if a new motherboard gets released with a likewise high price tag, the sales will be low and the company behind the board will not gain enough money from the project to make another production run and/or develop a new board. And I am honestly not willing to take the risk of buying expensive hardware when I don't see that the hardware in itself has a future, or future support from the company behind the hardware.

Why, as a company please a few, and take a really big risk with expensive hardware, instead of pleasing many with cheaper hardware? I can't see the logic of this. Really.

In whatever case, I wish Troika the best of luck. I think it is honorable that someone dares to produce new Amiga motherboards, no matter how I personally feel concerning the actual motherboard in itself. It will probably not please me, especially if the price tag is too high, but some people will most certainly be pleased and, no pun intended, I'm glad for their sake.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: redrumloa on June 09, 2006, 11:25:30 PM
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Quote:
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Yes. In the real world Troika has to compete but in the Amiga world they can charge what the hell they want (to a limit).

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Price is not relevant:

http://tinyurl.com/fmks9

 


Some things never change  :roflmao:
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: boing on June 10, 2006, 12:44:20 AM
Now might be a good time to reflect on how we got here.  First there was the myth about custom chip design (Jeff Schindler privately admitted the real issue: they lost the needed schemas and were ill-equipped to start from scratch). Once we were forced to create a more generic form of the OS, we ended up dilluting our efforts.

Then there was the questionable Jim Collas Linux diversion. Nice idea if he could promise Amiga compatibility too. Ted @ Gatesway didn't want any of it.

But most of all, how can we forget Bill and Fleecy?

Or should I say, "forgive"?

 What have they accomplished in these past years?  Do we even know who is actually running Amiga Inc now?  Is it just a web site and the guys actually "work" in a basement?  Nobody knows, since they actively avoid the limelight. Anybody checked the whois info for amiga.com lately?  Bill and Fleecy have been a mistake, and I'm still amazed that anybody bought into any of the things they said.  They would have to pull a real Amiga out of their hats to get back in the good graces of the community they rely on by way of a stranglehold on the Amiga's OS.  It reminds me a bit of patent trolls.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: bhoggett on June 10, 2006, 02:07:33 AM
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redrumloa wrote:
Some things never change


Ain't that the truth.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: Troika on June 12, 2006, 05:22:30 PM
@ humppa
>>Now I can perfectly understand why Troika only showed us a small part of the board in their announcement! <<<

No, our motherboard is under NDA and we can't say much more about it.  Best to re-read our progress report.

These pics were released by Tarbos for his own reasons.
Title: Re: Two New Mainboard with MPC7448 Soon?
Post by: SHADES on June 13, 2006, 12:24:33 AM
@ matt_h
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Yes, it would be great if we could have different manufacturers producing competing IDE cards for the Amiga, but our market's far too small. Plus no Amiga hardware gurus are going to develop their own IDE boards when so many exist already.


Who's saying match that? No reason to not use it though, you are with your soldered on board chip, why is that harder to support on a card. Manufacture costs for the mainboard are down if it's not included and traced on to the maotherboard, those readly availible chips from Nvidia, ATi available to purchase on their own, not solderd to mainboards :) and cheap 3rd party cards as well. The driver has to be written either way for the chipset, why not! besides, Catweazel was produced for AMIGA, there's a new clock card, IDE cards what was it, fast IDE or something else. It just creates oppertunities for producing h/w for a platform. It can attract de4velopment even though there is not much at the moment.

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. ATI, nVidia, etc. literally have armies of researchers and engineers at their disposal. An Amiga developer couldn't possibly match their collective capabilites


Why not? NewTec do. Besides ATI and NVidia sell their chips to 3rd party manufactures. Why not use some of the existing chips and design a AGA/nvidia PCI graphics card, I dunno. OR make a driver company. A company tht writes drivers for cards depending on a pool of funds. There's so much I can think of to do for the platform once it arrives. Or like I said above, use an exisitng cheap 3rd party card! The driver has to be written for the rotten chip regardless if it's pasted to a mainboard or on to a card and if it's offered for a particular system, it will be INCLUDED or there would be no point. The point is, you can plug in other cards from other manufacturers that may see a niche or need for something else and that my friend is an oppertunity which is not restricted by on board devices that can't change.

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If they're intending to sell that board as an Amiga they should!


And the same for a h/w Card and it's driver ;)

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Got to find one first.

Another reason to develop an AMIGA card, even if using existing ATi chips or whatever.
If you want to get it all now, there's a list of supported h/w from Hyperion.

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No, because the motherboard would have been sold with drivers.

So would an AMIGA made or supported h/w card! Why does it HAVE to be on the mainboard! Drivers have to be written regardless! lol
What you think they are going to design a 3d chip to solder to the mainboard? if they are going to write the driver anyway, why not put it on a card! Makes the mainboard less expensive to design and produce, and the driver is coming anyway ... I don't get your point. ATI or IDE or whatever on motherboard is the same chip to be used on a card instead.

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And my point is that the pool of Amiga developers is stretched far too thin - if we don't have the resources to write drivers, how can anyone be expected to design and manufacture redudant PCI hardware from scratch?


That's so not true. If anything at all it opens up the door for other h/w manufacturing to take place. Writing a driver for a mainboard is just as easy to wite for an add-on card and if they want to supply a mainboad with the card to do IDE, they would also provide a driver. That's the end of it. It would make no sense otherwise and weather they make their own IDE card or write a driver for someone eles's, they will be writing the driver regardless. So you see my point now?