IMICA Atom becomes Aros fully native and celebrates in Silence

[clusteruk]

The journey that started 18 months ago to create a next generation Amiga on commodity hardware has now reached its first major milestone by becoming a completely driver native Aros system powered by the energy efficient Intel Atom processor. This has been achieved with the supply of hardware and in some cases financial rewards. The plan with the following steps has been to create a base reference platform for Aros and the Amiga community to build on and support.

Step 1: Network driver development by Nick “Kalamatee” Andrews, free to all.
Step 2: HDAudio by Davy Wentzler owned by Cluster UK ltd, free to end users.
Step 3: Catweasel driver development for Aros by Ian Gledhill, free to all.
Step 4: Intel GMA device developed by Michal Schulz and again free to all.

This work would not have been possible without the amazing team of developers working on Aros whose names are long and well respected but room does not allow all their names to appear. Please visit Aros.org for more details. Also a notable mention must go to Paolo Besser and the IcAros distribution that is supplied with all iMica systems.
In between this work other developments have been supported, more news on these later. However, we have also been experimenting with hardware configurations for the best type of iMica system, but it has become clear that one thing was important to all; it must be SILENT.

So now we announce the final iMica Atom system that we believe will achieve all the needs of the Amiga and Aros fan using low cost commodity hardware in a small and SILENT package.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvXhCYdc3aM

This unit is not only power efficient and low cost, but can also be mounted behind the monitor to create a space efficient working area and no wires in front of the monitor when using a wireless keyboard and mouse. However, with its great looks and slim design it is doubtful you will want to hide it away.
This is not the end, this is just Stage 1.

Stage 2, optional case upgrade to hold, PCI Catweasel MK4, Slim DVD and Amiga/Mac/PC compatible floppy disk drive unit. This will be available to all iMica Atom customers.

Stage 3, Well we will tell you about that when we have something to show, but it will make the investment in the iMica Atom system a good investment, and might just inspire old Amiga users to get really excited about next generation Amiga’s including those with other Amiga OS flavours.

My thanks to all of the Aros and Amiga developers who have supported me over the last 18 months.

Stephen Jones
MD Cluster UK Software Ltd

[clusteruk]

Thanks for nice comments

Atom has great uses but this is meant to be a silent machine with reasonable power so it cannot compete with a Core 2 Duo except for the fact that it is SILENT :-)

I have both fast and quiet.

As for Intel is evil, well good enough for 99% of the computing world and leaves me beer money.

[clusteruk]

@dreamcast270mhz

I am not trying to replace the Amiga, I am not sure what Amiga you refer to, I own the only real Amiga which had its name changed to the A1000, and it is my greatest possession. I also own A1200, A3000, A4000 and they are all fantastic evolution of the species that starts with the A1000.

For me, I skipped the non chipset ppc based Amigas for a lot of reasons but nothing to do with how good or bad they are, I just left the scene after Gateway fiasco and Gateway wiping my company out with the PCI Amiga and siamese system, a project that was to take Amiga to x86 in late 90's.

How you define Amiga is personal, to some it is the wonderful chipset, watch my videos and be amazed at what my 25 year old Amiga 100 can do and to others the OS, and some to both. In my case it was both but I can no longer have the chipset unless Natami is succesful. So I am working with others to get Aros supported on low cost hardware, iMica and later, Super High performance hardware that will give us all cause to re-evaluate the Amiga in the next decade.

The key thing is Aros is not owned by anybody and will last forever just improving bit by bit.

My IMICA is not driven by a need for sales, I hope people buy it, but it is a base reference platform for developers to build on for the future, and because drivers are free anybody can build one or buy a supported Aros netbook for around (150-200 euros) something that is eluding ppc AmigaOS camp for now. Also serious users can buy later generation hardware as it suits there needs. However, trust me, I am in for the long term here. It is an all consuming hobby and now this step in project is complete I am moving onto next stage.

[clusteruk]

Two things:

First a video showing Janus UAE Coherance mode at the end of it old v0.6, not the latest v0.7.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTaZCNOvCnE

Oh and my new hero developing from scratch an Aros version of 68k emulation layer like in OS4 and MorphOS. Some way off but working already with the 68k clock and showing tons of promise.

http://emumiga.com/

Enjoy

[clusteruk]

Yes, ofcourse. But that was code originating from AROS that was brought to MorphOS and in the process bug fixed, and fixes submitted back to AROS. Are there examples of code originating from MorphOS being brought to AROS?

Now that would be appreciated, and I accept your points on the shell. It works ok but needs some love.

[clusteruk]

OK when you recompile Dpaint, Scala, Brillliance, Lightwave, Cinema 4d, Wordworth 7 for AROS, let me know and I'll jump on board.

You have a reasonable point here, at the moment Aros cannot just launch all Amiga apps and run them seamlessly. Either they go through JanusUAE and coherance mode that will run the application through emulation or if system friendly apps then the Emumiga will one day be able to run them seamlessly.

However, I believe the same is true with AmigaOS and MorphOS, however, there 68k emulation and integration layer is way more advanced than in Aros. So most applications can be run through the integration layer which is very impressive but in all fairness I believe it is easier with a PPC, I could be wrong. I will say that both AmigaOS and MorphOS also have to resort to UAE just less often.

However, one day in the not too distant future Aros will be at the same point as the other two fine OS's. I hope when that day comes you will join us as a user.

[clusteruk]

OK when you recompile Dpaint, Scala, Brillliance, Lightwave, Cinema 4d, Wordworth 7 for AROS, let me know and I'll jump on board.

With all due respect, if you could get the source code for these applications I would be surprised if you could recompile them on AmigaOS4 or MorphOS. I may be wrong but I truly doubt it.

[clusteruk]

If dpaint hits the hardware how does it work through RTG  ?

Interesting, I never managed to get DPaint to run with an RTG mode, always went belly up if you select one.

[clusteruk]

I just think that Aros is quickly becoming a viable platform for those that want to run an Amiga like operating system without breaking the bank.

All Amiga applications run through the janus emulation, and with coherance it appears more seamless being able to launch an application from the Aros file system 68k app icon and a more elegant solution is in the works with Emumiga

[clusteruk]

@dreamcast270mhz

IMICA is not a true Amiga just like the latest PPC offerings are in no way a true Amiga for me. But they are all a step on the road to a true next generation Amiga. The X1000 is a good step on the road also, and too the Natami for me looks amazing and I am a fan.

But I am thinking ahead and to do this I need the basics in place. IMICA is a first step on a journey to something special I hope.

Oh yes, and we DO NOT sit on Linux.

[clusteruk]

Emu Amiga looks interesting. I wonder how complex applications that use 3rd party libraries and MCCs will perform.

Time will tell, but this will be a while in the making. However, Moggen is about to open the source so others can help once the fundamentals are in place.