MorphOS for Sam460

[itix]

Those heathen mobos wouldn't be around if Hyperion didn't go to them for an OS4 platform

Acube's primary market is embedded customer and that is what those boards are designed for.

[itix]

The rabids are hailing it as the OS4 endgame (yet again) over at the moo.  Always good for a laugh over there.

Looks like "red heretics" are getting mad because MorphOS is ported to yet another hardware...?

[itix]

Good news for Sam 460 owners.

Now they can have new MorphOS without buying another system. ;-)

[itix]

"Acube's primary market is embedded customer and that is what those boards are designed for."

People keep saying that, but its just not true. No way embedded customers are using these boards. There are hundreds of embedded solutions that are a tenth (or less) of the cost of these boards, and even at a tenth of the
price those other embedded boards have modern specs, not 10 year old specs.

Maybe they were originally designed with that purpose in mind but there is no way embedded customers are buying up these boards or providing acube with any significant customer base. These boards are just WAY under powered, WAY outdated, and WAY overpriced boards for amigaOS - and now AROS PPC,  and MORPHOS.

Yes it would explain why SAM is available in small quantities only. But SAM platform is an embedded platform. It is using an embedded CPU, it has got FPGA (useless to desktop users), it has got SM502 graphics adapter what is not very useful for desktop use (low resolution, lack of gfx acceleration) and many "useless" ports.

I dont know if Acube is selling those boards at all outside Amiga market but it certainly was designed for embedded customers not using Amiga. As an evaluation board there is always small, tiny demand.

[itix]

http://www.amiga.org/gallery/index.php?n=3736

[itix]

That took for ever boot, and the screen update was well slow, guessing this because relevant drivers not optimized for the board yet.

If the time difference between other hardware release videos and actually release is anything to go by, this could be a year before sam version is released

AFAIK it is using the onboard SM502 without hardware acceleration. I dont know if any r200 video cards are supported on this board yet. On the other hand you dont need another SATA controller to install/use MorphOS on this machine.

[itix]

Therefore they would never have appeared on most of our shopping lists without Hyperion's involvement and MorphOS wouldn't be on a platform that's currently being manufactured. My point to begin with.

ACube is obviously important partner to Hyperion, no doubt about it.

So, when do we get MorphOS for X1000?

Tell your friends to wait for X2000 instead.

[itix]

Talking to religionists is waste of time. Better spend energy somewhere else.

[itix]

@itix

is this effort being worked on by a single individual, or the entire team?

The entire team just like all hardware porting projects are.

at what point can SAM owners expect to know what on-board hardware will be supported, such as audio via the SM502?

I dont know. Better ask directly from Frank Mariak (pega-1) or Mark Olsen ('trollolol') at MZ when it is online again.

Integrated ethernet, SATA and USB ports must be supported or the board is useless.

are there any plans to eventually support newer radeon HD video cards, or will R200-series cards be the main focus in the immediate future?

There are no plans to support newer Radeon HD cards in near future.

In the immediate future the main focus is on r200 and r300 series cards. I dont see point for newer Radeon HD cards because many Macs have built-in gfx card and gfx speed is not our bottleneck.

But... never say never. One step at a time.

[itix]

Well, I realise that's up to the team, but IMHO it's a shame.

CSPPC and BPPC cards are hard to find these days.

[itix]

I can not comment more than what was shown and announced at Amiga Pianeta last year.

http://www.morphzone.info/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=3&topic_id=9691&post_id=107369&viewmode=flat&sortorder=0&showonepost=1

It is not impossible but SAM460 first.

[itix]

@ itix

When did bigfoot become 'trollolol'?

He was using that nick (for a moment) on IRC :-)

[itix]

Supporting the X5000 would be a better move, imho.
Future Sam460 availability is questionable.

If there is enough demand ACube could produce another batch. If not available as new you can obtain few units from second hand market.

X5000 availability is more questionable. We dont know when it will be available and how long it will be available. At this moment it is easier to source second hand SAM460 than X5000

Acube really needs to reconsider is processor choices.
Applied Micro CPUs are just too weak.
A 1.4 GHz e5500 cored T1020 would not significantly raise board costs, it would be faster, and dual core.

I dont know how successful ACube has been with their business plan but I believe they cant choose any random CPU. SAM is industrial product for industrial customers.

[itix]

Does Acube use a plan?
They seem devoted to using processors from one company who's product line is remarkably unimpressive.

To Amiga/desktop user it is. My Mac Mini runs circles around it.

They must be getting these devices at a really low cost, which really highlights their extreme mark up.

Maybe. Or maybe they have found a customer that just need it. There is UMTS/GSM module what certainly is not designed to Amiga market.

[itix]

There is UMTS/GSM module what certainly is not designed to Amiga market.

That would mean some good heavy Linux support I have missed. Or some OS I am not aware of.

Customers using it are probably going to write their own drivers. These kind of embedded things run software you cant buy from online stores.

There is no option to buy board without OS and Acube website.

I am sure possible industrial customers can buy boards without OS4.