Any news on future release of OS4 netbook or on Natami?

[matthey]

So can anybody actually state for a fact what the new intended specs for the Natami are going to be?

Maybe, but he ain't talking :/. The release specs would be whatever Thomas decides is good enough when he decides to release it. My guess is that it will include:

-SAGA (much faster and better/larger chip memory, blitter, planar gfx)
-68060 processor board, 512 MB of DDR2 memory
-USBv2, PS2, Ethernet, IDE with DMA, CompactFlash/flashdisk, PCI and classic Amiga ports
-built in scan doubler/deinterlacer and DVI port

Probably included would be:

-optional N68050 fpga CPU
-chunky modes
-significantly upgraded audio (16 bit)

Maybe included:

-fpga FPU

Unlikely to be included:

-case
-complete drivers
-all bugs fixed
-3D
-fpga MMU

The later the release date the more that could be included of course.

[Darrin]

@ matthey:

Thanks.  That sounds awfully close to what the FPGA Arcade is going to give us with the daughterboard expansion.  I'll be interested to see what (if any) expansion slots might be included in the design.

[matthey]

@ matthey:
Thanks.  That sounds awfully close to what the FPGA Arcade is going to give us with the daughterboard expansion.  I'll be interested to see what (if any) expansion slots might be included in the design.

Yep. The fpgaArcade will be first and maybe a little cheaper. The Natami will have a PCI slot and should be a little faster. The big question is who will provide better support and updates. They both could win if they are done right. I've got money ready to support both if they can get their acts together .

[Darrin]

I'm hoping a PCI slot is included just to allow a good PCI graphics card.

[gunni]

I hope the netbook appears, I simply can't justify forking out the big bucks for an os4 machine and I'm sure there are plenty of people who are the same. A cheap entry-level alternative is definitely required.

[Kesa]

What makes you think it will be cheap?

[matthey]

I'm hoping a PCI slot is included just to allow a good PCI graphics card.

It's there in the real MX developer/proto board:

http://www.natami.net/gfx/NatAmi64_MX/natamipinout.png

I believe it would be the first non-bottlenecked PCI solution for the 68k.

[gertsy]

What makes you think it will be cheap?

I was going to make a Scottish joke but that would be inappropriate.
So I guess the answer is; unrealistic expectations.

Tablets are fine until you want to type or edit text.

[commodorejohn]

So what is "S-Zorro" on that diagram, anyway? Is there actually a Zorro bus controller that one could theoretically hook a backplane to?

[orb85750]

What makes you think it will be cheap?

http://www.vincentperkins.com/AmigaNG/netbook.php

"Announced at Amiwest 2011, Hyperion has began work on a port of AmigaOS4 to a Netbook device. Designed as an entry level all in one machine for Amiga enthuses and is be a low cost and low power entry to OS4 world. Not much is known about the device and its eistamted performace on such a low powered machine but t the very least anything that runs on the classic version of AmigaOS4 will run on this device and it is also hoped that the upcoming Firefox port, Timberwolf will run and be usable on the device. It is expected sometime 2012 but its been said that workbench already boots into the machine and drivers are being worked on so it may arrive as early as Q1 of 2012. PRICE: £250 to £500 (with OS4)"

[Wolfe]

http://www.vincentperkins.com/AmigaNG/netbook.php

"Announced at Amiwest 2011, Hyperion has began work on a port of AmigaOS4 to a Netbook device. Designed as an entry level all in one machine for Amiga enthuses and is be a low cost and low power entry to OS4 world. Not much is known about the device and its eistamted performace on such a low powered machine but t the very least anything that runs on the classic version of AmigaOS4 will run on this device and it is also hoped that the upcoming Firefox port, Timberwolf will run and be usable on the device. It is expected sometime 2012 but its been said that workbench already boots into the machine and drivers are being worked on so it may arrive as early as Q1 of 2012. PRICE: £250 to £500 (with OS4)"

It needs more ram . . .

[ChaosLord]

@ matthey:

Thanks.  That sounds awfully close to what the FPGA Arcade is going to give us with the daughterboard expansion.  I'll be interested to see what (if any) expansion slots might be included in the design.

All 5 Natami MX boards produced to date have 512MB RAM and Ethernet 1000 soldered on.  That is significantly beyond what FPGA Arcade is promising us with the daughterboard expansion.

I wish both projects the best of luck.  And I am planning to buy both when/if they become fully available.

My only complaint about FPGA Arcade that keeps me wanting a Natami so badly is they are starving my poor widdul miggy of all her RAM.  All Amiga software can easily address a 4GB memory address space which is about 3GB of useable RAM, (the rest is reserved for registers, expansion cards, etc).  But nobody will build us any hardware to actually use that much ram.

[ChaosLord]

So what is "S-Zorro" on that diagram, anyway?

It is used exclusively by the SuperDuper(tm) 060 CPU Card + Static Ram.

Is there actually a Zorro bus controller that one could theoretically hook a backplane to?

Nope.  But PCI is your friend

[ChaosLord]

-built in scan doubler/deinterlacer and DVI port

Natami has no deinterlacer.

Claudio could maybe sneak a deinterlacer into the system but the last I checked he was too mad at Gunnar (as are many others) to actually put in the hours of work it would take to get it in.  So basically you can forget about it.

On Natami if you want a noninterlaced screen then your program must actually open a noninterlaced screen such as any normal 31.5 Khz mode.

[Kesa]

I was going to make a Scottish joke but that would be inappropriate.
So I guess the answer is; unrealistic expectations.

What was the joke out of curiosity? Anyway how can a scottish joke be inappropriate?

I think they will put the cost up and up until they realise that it will cost waaaayyyy too much and drop the project altogether. But that's just me.

[vox]

It needs more ram . . .

I really hope they will make low end and high end model.
Even Pi has those.