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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Retail News / Sales => Topic started by: Troika on May 26, 2006, 11:03:12 PM
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We thought a progress report was in order as we have some very good news. After much development we are happy to report that version 1.4 of Amy'05 is nearly complete. Our next progress report will contain lots of information about Amy, along with the much awaited Photo's!
For many of the first adopters of Eyetech Amiga One models, their needs and wants have grown past the specifications of the machines they are currently using and they wish to upgrade to a more modern motherboard design.
Our original intent with project “Prometheus” was to design and build several low cost lines of motherboards, built on proven technology. The Amy’05 design would be followed by a more powerful design. When we designed Amy’05 we did not envisage the changes that have taken place in the Power PC market, most notable, Apple's shift from PowerPC to Intel that has presented both problems as well as opportunities for Troika.
While developing Amy’05 we have been investigating several good opportunities for the existing Amiga user base. We have found others with similar business interests to ours, from which we were able to form new alliances which has allowed us to begin due diligence procedures for purchasing a design of a higher end motherboard. Acquiring the rights to this motherboard will allow us to bring a higher end board to market far quicker than if we were to design one from the ground up. Also, by forming new alliances we will be able to bring the per unit cost of this motherboard down - a saving that we wish to pass on to you.
We would like to show you photographs of our higher end motherboard but our NDA does not permit this. However, we are able to show you pictures that have been cropped to conceal the board’s identity.
Provided we are able to do this, we plan on offering this higher end motherboard as a compliment to our first line of Amy motherboards.
We have been down this road before, with announcements based on assurances from third parties who have failed to deliver. Amy’05 has encountered problems but they are all in the past.
Between now and then we shall post regular progress reports, instead of intermittent press releases and promises.
http://troikang.com/preview/2ndMB.jpg
http://troikang.com/preview/sound.png
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considering both specifications and delay i have the feeling that is a waste of time.
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Tigger has a comment (http://moobunny.dreamhosters.com/cgi/mbmessage.pl/amiga/129898.shtml) on this mobo.
Dammy
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So they've finally given up on trying to make their own boards and are going to relabel the VadaTech boards instead? Why not just say that?
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considering both specifications and delay i have the feeling that is a waste of time.
There is still loads of people who want to buy a amigaone for running OS4, but cant due to it not being produced anymore..
They better hurry though, as i doubt we will wait forever..
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If you learn to read, you will see that the board design they are purchasing or licencing is for a high end board to their in-house designed low end Amy 05.
The state that they are under an NDA and can not show a picture of the board or name the manufacturer. I assume they are licencing to relable, as I can't figure out why anyone would require an NDA for resale.
Basically,its just down to more waiting. Not much to comment on til they have something to show (*edit,running OS 4.0) or more importantly sell.
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If you learn to read, you will see that the board design they are purchasing or licencing is for a high end board to their in-house designed low end Amy 05.
So they say, they will have to show me something for me to believe.
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Let's hope this licensed board doesn't have the same sort of problems that Mai dumped on us...
At any rate, thanks for the news. It's always appreciated.
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So they say, they will have to show me something for me to believe.
Like I wrote at the end of my first comment. Not much to talk about or reason to.
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I agree. There is nothing new here just another reason for falling behind maybe?
Who cares about the high end Amy board. I have been waiting now for the Amy '05 - don't care about the spec. really. I just want AOS4 running on dedicated hardware.
Give us Amy '05 - we will then listen when you speak about high end machines and probably be more appreciative of the information - for me, I am sick of hearing about further developments when past developments have yet to see the light of day.
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There is nothing new here just another reason for falling behind maybe?
That's also the impression I get from it. The reasons they give for not having anything right now are quite funny though:
After much development we are happy to report that version 1.4 of Amy'05 is nearly complete.
Although 1/2 year ago we reported that the design was already 'frozen'.
When we designed Amy’05 we did not envisage the changes that have taken place in the Power PC market, most notable, Apple's shift from PowerPC to Intel that has presented both problems as well as opportunities for Troika.
How can have Apples shift to x86 have caused any problems to Troika? If there are reasons, why not being any more specific? This sounds like a badly made-up reason.
which has allowed us to begin due diligence procedures for purchasing a design of a higher end motherboard.
"allowed us to begin" -> nothing is done yet, the negotiations might as well fail.
Acquiring the rights to this motherboard will allow us to
Nothing is acquired yet.
Also, by forming new alliances we will be able to bring the per unit cost of this motherboard down - a saving that we wish to pass on to you.
We might bring down the price down from 1200$ to 1100$.
We would like to show you photographs of our higher end motherboard but our NDA does not permit this.
There is nothing yet to see since we haven't started with negotiations yet. There is no photo of Amy'05 yet because there is no prototype.
However, we are able to show you pictures that have been cropped to conceal the board’s identity.
For several reasons, we don't want you to find out the company who produced the mainboard.
We have been down this road before, with announcements based on assurances from third parties who have failed to deliver.
...thats why we decided to do the same again and completely rely on a third party now. But that's better than to rely on a single guy who has never done any project like this before.
Amy’05 has encountered problems but they are all in the past.
Sure thing. :lol:
Between now and then we shall post regular progress reports, instead of intermittent press releases and promises.
We will continue to delight you with empty and meaningless announcements, fluff and waffle.
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@Troika
:roll:
Thanks for the update. I look forward to a live demo of OS4 booting on either Amy'05 or your "higher end motherboard" ...
... if that day ever comes.
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redfox
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Thanks for the update. I look forward to a live demo of OS4 booting on either Amy'05 or your "higher end motherboard" ...
... if
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redfox
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thanks redfox
have to change this: when that day comes.
:-)
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There is still loads of people who want to buy a amigaone for running OS4, but cant due to it not being produced anymore..
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Yes Tomas, and many will upgrade to our higher end Amy motherboard and sell their A1's.
:-)
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>@Troika
>There is still loads of people who want to buy a >amigaone for running OS4, but cant due to it not >being produced anymore..
>====================================
>Yes Tomas, and many will upgrade to our higher >end Amy motherboard and sell their A1's.
But when all Amiga followers got their motherboard
how are you going to survive ? Who outside this community is going to put down that amount of money for an alternative platform.
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how are you going to survive ? Who outside this community is going to put down that amount of money for an alternative platform
Especially when considering that there are two announced "high-end" boards now.
Very funny (and of course no coincidence ;-)) that the ACK "high-end" board was announced exactly one day before the Troika board was announced.
I also wonder what buyers there will be for high-end hardware that costs more than a thousand dollars while still being slow by todays standards. The target group is extremely tiny, so what sense does it make to further split it up by a second manufacturer?
I think a low-end board such as the Powervixxen is more viable and affordable.
There is not much need for a 2Ghz mainboard when there are not any decent apps and games out there.
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And the other question is, what about a license from Amiga Inc? An accelerator is one thing for an existing Amiga, new rebadged mobo is another.
Dammy
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And the other question is, what about a license from Amiga Inc?
This question was already asked many times and Troika always evaded a direct answer.
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Which to me, that can only answer as a "no." Eyetech should have a lock on it unless someone else can pay AI for AmigaTwo rights.
Dammy
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@Troika
There is still loads of people who want to buy a amigaone for running OS4, but cant due to it not being produced anymore..
__________________________________________________
Come on Troika. The A1 isn't being produced anymore. Show me a Amy board that has ever been produced in the first place.
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Which to me, that can only answer as a "no."
That would be too honest for Troika, thus impossible.
Another question I'd like them to answer is "Who will do the port to both new platforms?".
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Personally I think there wil be market outside of the AMIGA community for a PPC mainboard as long as OS4 is not the only OS designed for it to run. If Linux will run and lets face it, people hack linux to run on most things including PS2, then I think Trokia will be able to continue to sell mainboards.
The mainboard could also answer Morph OS users too. I don't believe there are license issues around other OS's, just AMIGA OS. So once they have an AMIGA license, they can run whatever they like including AMIGA OS.
The only thing about the post I found dissapointing is no time frames and that it seems to still be in negotiation status. The negociation can't be avoided and is promising but not solid.
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The only thing about the post I found dissapointing is no time frames and that it seems to still be in negotiation status.
TA22:
"In our business plan, we have two production runs scheduled for 2005."
:lol:
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So once they have an AMIGA license, they can run whatever they like including AMIGA OS.
The thing is, before they can even approach Amiga Inc for a license, the boards must actually be available, and be selling in numbers that constitute a business opportunity for Amiga (pre-requisites gathered from a post by Fleecy (http://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=1689&forum=4#19774)).
It's also unknown whether they have the money (I believe that Hyperion quoted €20,000 per platform?) so it would be €40,000 they need up front to pay Hyperion for the porting of OS4 to their two boards.
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The thing is, before they can even approach Amiga Inc for a license, the boards must actually be available, and be selling in numbers that constitute a business opportunity for Amiga
...which is kinda weird, since that would never happen with any of the new hardware platforms. None of these platforms will be "sold in numbers" BEFORE they can approach Amiga Inc., nor will they constitute a business opportunity for Amiga Inc.
It's also unknown whether they have the money (I believe that Hyperion quoted €20,000 per platform?) so it would be €40,000 they need up front to pay Hyperion for the porting of OS4 to their two boards.
That is correct. It would be €40,000 for both platforms, a sum that is not pocket money for Troika. The Frieden brothers estimated 2 months for a port to another PPC platform, which means about 6 months in real-world time. :-P
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So lets be realistic here. When will we see a Troika Motherboard which will runs OS4.
Never mind Lnux etc. Although it is a fantastic OS we are all here to find out when OS4 will be available and what hardware it will be running on.
Commitment time. Who can answer these questions....
Troika will have motherboards available to the market on [Date]...............
It will ship with OS4. True/False
It will ship with Linux. True/False
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I think most people would rather have brown stuff on their noses and tongues than asking Troika direct questions.
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You can ask them direct questions, but don't expect a direct answer. See for yourself:
"Q: When will Amiga OS4 be available on Amy?
Regarding OS4: We designed Amy'05 from the start to run OS4. We operate very differently than many companies, and feel that fluffed up news releases that end up empty, are not worth our time, or yours! Therefore, don’t expect us to have a major news release on OS4. It would be unprofessional to comment on our business dealings, and we would rather demo a working product."
:-?
or:
"Q: Will Amy’05 be licenced to run OS 4?
We designed Amy’05 from the start to run OS 4. Just less than a year ago we contacted all the
parties involved in the OS 4 process and went to work on our project. We operate very
differently than many companies, and feel that fluffed up news releases that end up empty, are not worth our time or your readers. Therefore don’t expect us to have a major news release on OS 4. It would be unprofessional to comment on our business dealings and we would rather demo a working product."
:-?
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It's also unknown whether they have the money (I believe that Hyperion quoted €20,000 per platform?) so it would be €40,000 they need up front to pay Hyperion for the porting of OS4 to their two boards.
I guess that number was an educated guess and might be based on the estimated time a port would take. I think a main part of it will be porting to a new chipset. And in this case that is a kind of TSI chip (the 109 on the Troika/ACK high end, and the 107/108 on the low end?). But once this is done, it should be relatively easy to support TSI based boards, thus reducing the cost of porting. Also, if the TSI is supported, the question will be, how much effort is it, to support a product family (e.g. a range of 107/108/109 and future 110).
It makes sence if Adam and Troika work together support the TSI chip(s) and thus reducing the costs again. (just a guess). And I tend to believe if you read between the lines that happend already.
@Troika: Any info how fast the 7448 is on the high end board? Do you plan a range (e.g. 1.0/1.4/1.7Ghz or so)
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Matt
"MAI" Did not dump that board on you. Amiga inc and Eyetech did. It was prototype technology and anyone in the industry knew about the Teron boards as being bad technology. You guys did NOT want to listen to Bplan or alot of us posting on these boards. Instead, you want to label us as trolls. NOW YOU KNOW THE REAL TRUTH.
magnetic
@hummpa
Yeah dont feel like this: :-?
The facts are it is doubtful anyone will be able to obtain "the license" from Amiga. As a matter of fact even Hyperion had negotiated bad terms with their own license which is preventing them from a real release of "OS4"
"SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
:madashell:
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And the other question is, what about a license from Amiga Inc?
This question was already asked many times and Troika always evaded a direct answer.
This is what worries me... I doubt many will buy these boards if they do not run OS4. I personally doubt they will get a license from Amiga INC.
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...which is kinda weird, since that would never happen with any of the new hardware platforms. None of these platforms will be "sold in numbers" BEFORE they can approach Amiga Inc., nor will they constitute a business opportunity for Amiga Inc.
I honestly think that Amiga INC simply wont have anything to do with the classic OS anymore and is simply trying to hide it all under the mat.
In the latest press releases regarding AA, they even refer to amigaanywhere as amigaos..
AmigaINC wants to see the AmigaOS and the classic dead, so they can concentrate on their {bleep}ty AA without having any relation to the amiga community.