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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Announcements and Press Releases => Topic started by: Boot_WB on April 30, 2007, 09:46:55 PM
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From Amiga.com
Entry Level Design Details from ACK Controls and Amiga
Entry level product ready for Customers Summer 2007
Issaquah, Wash and Fonthill, ON Canada – April 29, 2007 – ACK Controls and Amiga, Inc. are pleased to announce the base hardware design that will address the needs of the Amiga market as well offering expansion into other markets.
“The first product release is designed for flexibility and meeting the needs of the Amiga user, as well as offer a design that takes advantage of available hardware”, said Adam Kowalczyk President of ACK Systems
This new system will be offered at a suggested retail price of $ 489.00 and be a complete offering excluding monitor in a finished design that will provide customers with everything they need to get started.
* Flex-ATX form factor motherboard based on the Freescale MPC8349E SoC. (400MHz to 667MHz depending on requirements and price target)
* 1 (one) DDR2 DIMM slot expandable to 1GB using unregistered DIMMs.
* 1 (one) 66MHz PCI slot for use with readily available graphics cards.
* 2 (two) 33MHz PCI slots for additional expansion.
* 2 (two) 10/100/1Gb Ethernet Ports.
* 4 (four) Hi Speed USB ports.
* 2 (two) serial ports.
* 4 (four) SATA ports provided by a Silicon Image Sil3114 controller.
* Onboard sound provided by a C-Media CMI8738.
* Socketed EEPROM for U-Boot firmware.
* Atmel ATC2408A serial EEPROM (1 kb of non-volatile storage)
* Dallas DS1339 RTC with battery holder.
* Standard ATX power supply connector.
“Amiga is please to be working with ACK Controls and believe that by using flexible designs and aggressive manufacturing practices we will be able to deliver to our customers a great product at a great price”, said Bill McEwen of Amiga, Inc.
Manufacturing partner and final ship schedule will be following soon.
About Amiga
Amiga, Inc. is the world’s premier provider of multimedia enabling technologies. For almost two decades its award-winning software has been a mainstay for motion picture studios, multimedia creators, and digital entertainment enthusiasts around the world. Today Amiga builds on this legacy leading the way in multimedia development by providing developers with hardware-independent technologies for writing and porting applications to new platforms and interactive devices. For more information visit www.amiga.com.
About ACK
ACK Software Controls, Inc. specializes in the area of embedded controls design for use in automation systems where low-power consumption and reliability is an absolute must. Concentrating on design for manufacturing with local manufacturing facilities has allowed ACK to quickly and cost-effectively develop solutions for customers with low-volume requirements. By integrating hardware, firmware, and device driver engineering capability in-house, ACK can provide complete turn-key solutions to customers.
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And they want me to PAY for this? Interesting..
PCI graphics? they still make them? And these people claim to be leaders in multimedia.. more like NOT!
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Unless that price includes a big hard drive, at least 512MB of RAM, DVD-RW drive, and a decent graphics card, it's a little high given the slow processor.
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And they want me to PAY for this? Interesting..
Well Microsoft wants that you pay $399 for Windows Vista Ultimate, and it´s only a piece of plastic.PAY them then
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What?! :-o $489 for an outdated mobo + cpu?
For only 100 bucks more everyone can buy a MacMini with a decent OS included.
Amiga R.I.P. :boohoo:
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uhhm Visa? that a real OS! It can run a web brower unlike OS4. Not only the browser but an office suite and LOT's of current software on many differnt platforms.. I can install it on the hardware I already have. IMO os4 is worth about $50.
shoot I can get fedorea core 6 FOR FREE!
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Then by all means, guru-666, please feel free to leave Amiga.org to the people that are interested in the Amiga, both past and future, and go play with Windows.
Nobody is making you continue to post Amiga-bashing comments here. :-P
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@drewz21
well then you obviosly have no idea who I am and what I think.
sorry but vista does not compare to amiga OS4... no bashing needed. It's a well know FACT form people that USE os4(os3.9-3.1) that ther is no browser worth 2 cents. I know because I'm a user are you?
Just becasue I'm not a windows user does not mean I don;t understand what vista is. Alos for your info I recomend
fedora core 6 or ubuntu to anybody as it's better than vista.....
now why don't you go back to your wintel box from where you posted your comment. (i'm on linux right now) :whack:
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:roflmao:
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sad but true, no OS can really compare to windows. not because windows is all-mighty, but because it has the largest user base and more software than all other OSes combined...
supporting amiga is good, but you don't need to be fanatical and blind so you cannot see simple facts.
for me, amiga is a hobby machine that I enjoy and spent too much money on it. I also spent money to buy the software too (os3x, cgx4, whdload, MUI, poseidon, ibrowse, polynet and some games, and frankly I support every good new software, like amijewelled that got released recently... not to mention the hardware or geeky amiga-stuff I buy from amiga-stores these days) I don't want to brag, but sit there and see people denying facts is just lame.
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@sknight
For only 100 bucks more everyone can buy a MacMini with a decent OS included.
You get the feeling your on the wrong site :roll:
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Now with that boat anchor (Hyperion) out of the picture, things can finally move on for the better.
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>Now with that boat anchor (Hyperion) out of the picture, things can finally move on for the better.
Sure.. they only did all the work... what are they useful for ? right? Now, after sitting there doing nothing, it's possible to harvest their work and get rid of them.... very nice...
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@guru-666
You are absolutely correct. I don't know you except from your posts. That is what I base my comments on.
I was not comparing OS4 to Vista at all. From your other post you were. I use Amiga OS 1.3 on my A500 and Amiga OS 3.9 on my A1200. I don't have anything that runs OS4.0 so I cannot comment on it. I don't even attempt to browse the Web from my old Amigas. However, it is something I hope to do on a NEW Amiga and I'm willing to give it a chance.
I use XP and Vista every day. I've played around with Linux and for me I can see no reason to use it on a day to day basis over Windows.
I ENJOY using my Amigas and have for years. I would very much like to use a new/modern Amiga right alongside my Windows PC.
This comment posted from my nice Windows based computer running XP Professional on an Intel P4HT 3.4Ghz, with 2GB RAM, 500GB SATA HD, Nvidia GeForce 7800GS OC with 256MB RAM, Sound Blaster Extreme Audio Card with surround sound. And from this system I can run any off-the-shelf software. No having to re-compile! It works great! :-P
However, I will still buy new Amiga hardware and software if it becomes available as I see it as supporting the Amiga computer platform and not 1 specific company. I also support AROS and have donated to its development many times.
Enjoy your linux!
:smack:
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@Glittering
come on I've explained this to you before... don't jump to conclusions... you don;t have the facts.... the trial has not even started...
Here in the U.S.A you have to hear both sides of the story, the ask questions and let the jury decide!
@drewz21
actauly Sombody else started the telling me the price of vista and I was pointing out that THEY are not the same thing.
it's cool. If this hardware does get out there you are free to buy it. For me it stoped being an amiga a long time a ago. What I see has nothing to do with amiga it has to do with people using the amiga name to make a quick buck... Amiga died with commodore and it should have been open sources a long time ago....
BTW compiling your own software can be frustrating but it's VERY rewarding! I know how well windows works... it's o.k.
:cheers:
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@Akiko
You get the feeling your on the wrong site :roll:
No, I'm not... That was only an example (a good one by the way).
If Amiga Inc wants to succeed and be taken seriously by people they must change their attitude/business. Amiga OS was a great OS but it's outdated. Even OS4 is.
Let's be realistic. How many new Amigas do you think they will sell? 100k maximum? That's not even enough to attract serious developers to the new platform.
I am an Amiga fan (I still have some Amigas here - 5 in total) but those new Amigas have nothing to do with Amiga's original spirit... Amiga now is just a (good) hobby. Accept it!
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Amiga Inc has the community divided I think?
Put it into perspective. OS4 on a machine like this will run very well indeed. How much will OS4 cost again? and where can I buy it?
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I feel there is a need to point out that this isn't the Wintel biege box market, those comparisons just don't work in a market place this small.
That's not to say I'm jumping for joy, I would have liked to see AGP in the spec and what OS does this machine run?
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Any pricing or case designs..??
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Ya...
Well if they give us a 600 some Mhz CPU, then it would be worth while, though with Amiga's new law suit, I'm wondering if I should not just focus on MorphOS or AROS, should AROS ever become useable.
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@Sknight
"How many new Amigas do you think they will sell? 100k maximum?"
Not even by a long shot
Amiga now is just a (good) hobby. Accept it!
I well accept it! Hobbies are expensive and that's exactly what this OS and hardware is! It's absolutely crazy to expect comparable performance and pricing to that of a main stream company like Apple. If anyones expecting similar hardware from Ainc then they are clearly living in the clouds! If shocked by pricing I'd suggest finding a cheaper hobby! The rest can enjoy this niche hobby.
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then they should just release the dang OS for all PPC platforms and be done with it.
We don;t expect pidly companies like a-inc or hyperion to come up with well priced hardware... they just can't do it.
OR better yet relese the thing to the open source, then it could be a real hobby platform that the community could update with out having to deal with scumy criminals like hyperion and a-inc. Heck I would even be willing to pay that Mr. McEwen dude $25,000 to get lost.
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400MHz? They do know it's 2007 don't they?
I was interested until I read the specs, 1GHz is the bare minimum I would pay that price for (and even then it would be overpriced, I could probably pick up a similarly-specced PowerMac for far less!)
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@guru-666
then they should just release the dang OS for all PPC platforms and be done with it.
Doesn't mean there isn't a small market and some profit margin. Of course what really excites Ainc about OS4 is the potential for embedded use to more lucrative industrial clients.
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@Akiko
ahhh LOL, they are so not in that game! LOL
in there dreams!
No there is no lucrative amiga market. that notion has been a dream since 1995!
thats the whole point, why waist people money and time on this garbage. Why spend tax money in court, frankly these a-inc guys are causing a nusance. A-inc is just dreaing that they can make lots of moeny of this... it's a sad pathetic joke at he cost of this community. Francly we are the ones that should be sueing a-inc for creating a nucance with all the press releases, 20 questions and other legal garbage tehy are have been putting out.
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@guru-666
ahhh LOL, they are so not in that game! LOL
in there dreams!
They aren't the world’s premier provider of multimedia enabling technologies neither, but that dosn't seem to stop them thinking so! :lol:
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BTW, Not that I can even spell or anything....but you think they might want to proof read the copy they put up today....
“Amiga is please to be working with ACK Controls .... said Bill McEwen of Amiga, Inc.
:oops:
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First i loved Amiga because it was so different from any other computers, and now with this form it is gonna look like my shety PC! Can we get at least decent shell like it was on all Amigas like 1200, 600, 500??? probably not! I want that Amiga Inc is no more, f*** them, better sell everything to Microsoft and go to hell.I want that this agony comes to end. No more Amiga and point!
:madashell: :pissed: :madashell:
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First i loved Amiga because it was so different from any other computers, and now with this form it is gonna look like my shety PC! Can we get at least decent shell like it was on all Amigas like 1200, 600, 500???
Yeah, design and sell little desktop wedges that you almost immediately have to rip out of their cases and stick into towers and hang ugly, flakey 3rd party widgets off of to get any decent functionality. There's a marketing idea for you. :lol:
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Wait, wait... let me get this straight...
This is a really slow CPU, and they're using DDR2 memory? DDR2 memory, and they're using a PCI slot for graphics?
Are they F'n stupid? This is a horrific mis-match of hardware. I guess when you're hell-bent on using PPC at any cost (because, like, the CPU is the only thing that matters), then you have to make some severe compromises.
And all this time, I though Amiga's flagship product was supposed to run on any CPU. Such horrible treachery to shackle people to such a Frankensteinian monster because they can't find a simple way to add a hardware key to an off-the-shelf x86 micro-ATX board.
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Waccoon: Embedded chips use "Whatever memory is cheapest and uses Less power" .. Besides this PowerQiuiccII cpu has only 64Kbyte caches so having fast memory controller is essential for good CPU utilization.
So it makes sense.. Perhaps not as an Desktop computer point of view, but One has to remember that this ain't (and never has been intended) to desktop CPU. Most of embedded systems don't need AGP8* or multilane PCIexpress bandwidth for graphics, in fact most embedded today don't have Grafix at all...
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Waccoon: Embedded chips use "Whatever memory is cheapest and uses Less power" .. Besides this PowerQiuiccII cpu has only 64Kbyte caches so having fast memory controller is essential for good CPU utilization.
So it makes sense.. Perhaps not as an Desktop computer point of view, but One has to remember that this ain't (and never has been intended) to desktop CPU. Most of embedded systems don't need AGP8* or multilane PCIexpress bandwidth for graphics, in fact most embedded today don't have Grafix at all...
...and besides, since the apparent demise of MAI, to my knowledge, no one produces an AGP capable Northbridge chipset for the PowerPC family.
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I don't know why everyone is so bl**dy upset, AInc. have stared previously that OS5 will run on lots of different hardware, eg. x86. This has been a plan for them for ages now (but it was going to be called Amiga DE before).
OS4 machines (such as this one is probably intended to be) would be released to the public to fill the gap between classic Amiga (hobby users as we now are) and the new OS, ie. OS5.
The logical way to do this as far as Ainc is concerened is to give us a mobo that puts together what we have allready on the classic platform with ppc, pci etc..
I'm not at all suprised by this, lets face it, this is still the fastest (non-emulated) amiga yet and without the software available for it, we just don't need anything faster. OS4 is for hobby types (therefore expensive) and to give us a machine to (hopefully) develop some software on.
We need to be realistic with this, this is a stop gap solution (as is OS4).
If you don't like the hobby anymore...you don't have to take part.
If you just like retro Amiga, clone A may be better for you.
If you need a super Amiga, wait for OS5.
And finally, a question.
Who would like to see a clone A PCI board to go with this mobo?
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...and besides, since the apparent demise of MAI, to my knowledge, no one produces an AGP capable Northbridge chipset for the PowerPC family.
Might be true.. IIRC Marvell skipped AGP entirely in their product range, their newer chips are using PCI-express
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What are you argueing about the specs when this machine will never see the light of day anyway.
If it will come out an run OS4 it will be even wore, because that would mean A Inc. won over Hyperion bringing thus the Amiga history to a the final end.
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Poster: Lemmink Posted: 2007/5/1 16:58:52
What are you argueing about the specs when this machine will never see the light of day anyway.
If it will come out an run OS4 it will be even wore, because that would mean A Inc. won over Hyperion bringing thus the Amiga history to a the final end.
And how would this current kind of gridlock be any better??? There's been no legally licensed hardware available for years.
You people have to understand that there is *no* legal way hyperion to sell or give AmigaOS4 (without permission/agreement with AmigaInc), so the only way to end this years ongoing standoff is to make Hyperion to accept their partof bargain.
Yes, in the end that includes giving OS4 sources and development to AmigaInc as has been stated in their contract form 2001.
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Lemmink wrote:
quote:
What are you argueing about the specs when this machine will never see the light of day anyway.
If it will come out an run OS4 it will be even wore, because that would mean A Inc. won over Hyperion bringing thus the Amiga history to a the final end.
quote:
It's over if it doesn't come out!
As for Ainc winning over Hyperion: WHO CARES?
It don't count for jack 'till the silicons in my hand and if Hyperion falls to make it happen it's no skin off my nose.
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Amiga Inc and Ack Release Design Specs
Military specs? ;-)
Entry level product ready for Customers Summer 2007
Else what?
Don't bother, we can wait 2 more weeks (or should I say 2 weeks ago?). What is needed, is h/w at affordable prices, and not outdated (which, by the way runs AOS4).
You announce what you want to sell, not what can be sold.... (is it ready? does it run AOS4? is it affordable? These are questions that cannot be answered positively, and are much less in numbers than those asked to be questioned - <20 - ).
"Waiting" and "be patient" is for those who have no alternative or are AMiGA-only (few left, if none). The rest of us are just hobbists, and if something appears from nowhere, some time (not in a couple of weeks time), they might be interested, or even buy it, but not expect something more than that...
Now sit, and watch the soap opera :popcorn:
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Amiga is Dead. Long Live Amiga!
If I could have a AmigaOS box that would run most of the apps I want to run, with modern (standard/inexpensive) parts, and at modern speeds, I'd be happy. I'd probably buy one. I still have 5 real ones to play them old games on anyway..
I can throw a microfly pc together for a few hundred bucks with a big HD, decent gfx, 1Gb RAM, 400w PSU, CD/DVD-burner, flash slots, USB, etc. If I could ever get AF or UAE working the way I'd like them to work, I could do it on x86, but it wouldn't be my first choice.
This would be a hell of a time for peg/bPlan to announce a complete efika system (with Linux/MOS1.5) for $399. My Peg I still kicks the sht out of all the PCs on my network. (Oh.. wait, they already did that.)
Too bad we seem to have to spend so much time blathering about the specs, second guessing, prejudging, defending our pov. Maybe we should just ask ourselves "what have I done for the Amiga lately".
DIY
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hi all,
:( An Amiga Dbox2.....Good for hacking Cable Tv at least.
So an Amiga with an SOC RTOS Chip....Ah well....I'll Stick with me Buffalo Linktheater.
http://www.dixim.net/en/mf/ce/pdf/SSP.pdf
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You people have to understand that there is *no* legal way hyperion to sell or give AmigaOS4
Yes there would, if A Inc. would finally bite the dust.
Yes, in the end that includes giving OS4 sources and development to AmigaInc as has been stated in their contract form 2001.
Giving OS4 "back" to OS4 is the same as throwing it into the trashbin. Despite what they say now they will do absolutely nothing with it (this includes releasing it in any form). They will just rip off the nametag and throw everything else away. Or even better they simply do not want OS4 to happen.
Even if A Inc. for some miraculous way would want to release OS4 themselfe as it is, what hardware should it run on ? I don`t think something will come from ACK and I don`t see A Inc getting friendly with ACube. So where should the hardware come from ?
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Lemmik: That "hyperion gets os4 free"(*) clause was total daydreaming from Hermans.. I won't never past Amigainc's banckrupcy judges. If Ainc dies the OS4 right will be sold (or given biggest investors) and neither case It'll be Hyperion who gets hold of OS4 lisences.
IF ... (big if) AmigaInc gets full source of OS4 they can license it whomever they wish. Be it ack, sony or whoever seems to be like good idea. Heck even Genesi might get one since they have shown interest on running OS4 on their hardware. :-D
And even if they didn't made any hw lisensce deal, situatuon would not be any worse than it is at this moment. OS4 has (ans will be) halted unless one side gives up.
(*) In theory there could have been (years ago) point for Amiga incs insolvecy case, unfortunately Hyperion should have attacked while Ainc was weak. Today it looks like AmigaInc can afford lawers and with then (and lawsuit held in Usa) they are having good chance on boiling Hyperion for good.
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The specs are very low, and there is no mention to any OS to run on it. That's not good news... The Amiga Inc x Hyperion battle will definately terminate the Amiga market.
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What is a "unregistered DIMMs"?
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Hmmmm...I would not throw them rocks right away for this announcement.
There is a large market ahead for a computer that would meet only a few basic criterias for a 500$ cost that no X86 boxes have achieved (nor Windows or Linux).
I know alot of people that are fed up of bringing their PCs to repair centers 3-4 times a year because windows became totally bloated with registry entries or bad software/spyware/malware/viruses/etc...
The same people are also unable to understand Linux or simply hate it even in simple releases such as Ubuntu. They just don't feel the interface is intuitive.
What they would love is a computer (whatever the brand) that makes them go on internet, listen to music, watch movies, play games and that is ready to use "right-out-of-the-box". And that won't have a new bug every week.
The A500 used to be this machine years ago and I am sure there is room on the market for another Amiga that follows these principle.
After many years passed fixing everyone's PC the phrase I heard the most is: "My f****ing computer is bugged again, why can't they make those machine s better?"
So I wish the best to Amiga Inc in this project (as long as its not vapour again.....) :-D
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"this is still the fastest (non-emulated) amiga yet and without the software available for it, we just don't need anything faster."
Without the software we don't need a machine, period.