Amiga Card PPC developing

[Plaz]

I'd like to know why the dev cost would be so high when phase5 already has a PPC card design done. They would need to revamp for RoSH compliance, but it's not like they're starting from scratch. I guess I'll have to have a look at the thread and translate best I can.

Plaz

[Plaz]

I don't think it's that much, 50 000€ is 50€ x 1000 amiga users

I still need to read the details, but remember... so far that amount is said to be the development cost. Then you have to add in the production cost. The final price tag would be higher.

Plaz

[Plaz]

@Piru

I'd say the reason is that it'd require pretty much full redesign, as many of the components haven't been available for years, and/or are not available as RoHS. Also, you'd need to write the software for the card, this is quite tedious and time consuming work, too.

I've done some reading of that thread and if I'm correct, this person was not part of Phase5 as I first thought. He seems to have resources that would be interested in doing the work if they are paid. So without phase5 documentation, it would be a total redesign. If however one had the hardware/software documentation of phase5 it would be a good head start. Even though some parts are discontinued, I've always been able to find suitable substitutes for IC's far older than this. I agree completely though that software source rewrites would be as much work or more than the hardware.

I've started translating the german thread to english. If anyone's really interested, I can post the translation so far. Proper english phrasing is included, but is it 100% accurate? :-)

Plaz

[Plaz]

@Jeff

Sorry Jeff, got busy and forgot about the thread. I was going to try to translate more, but the postings by amiga4000t turned out to be very tough to translate and I couldn't get though fast enough with the spare time I have. Here's what I have so far and please forgive me for the errors all of you native German speakers :-)

amiga4000t
I want a ppc card for the Amiga developed and want to know who esle has interest in a ppc card?? This is not a joke, the development will be expensive and it will take time contacting available companies to decide what is possible and what is not.

teufel66
I say it comes down to how much one would cost and for which amiga models

tommysammy
I would be interested if this card had more than 256mb memory and 1GHZ or better because I already have a Blizzard 603e/240mhz.

@teufel66
Exactly.
In addition, the thing must be 100% compatible with OS4. Where can you get get documents that exactly describes how something like that functions? A PPC card is, as everybody knows, more than just a CPU and RAM.

Lichking
I would be interested, in any case, in a new PPC

AndreasFFM
Wasn't this the reason why phase5 went in to bankruptcy after 10 years of very successful Amiga hardware production?!?

aPEX
Yes and no, they simply wasted too much money on products like the CV64/3D, enormous sums in money... They simply wanted too much...

amiga4000t
For the 1200 and 4000

AMike
@amiga4000t
How much money do you have on hand? Without advance financing no company will lift a finger. We need to separatate fantasy from reality. Good Luck.

aPEX
This is not a bad idea and others agree here in the forum. Also the community would be pleased to have a new fast PPC card. But there are many hurdles. Begining on the financial side, then the time to develope (1-2 years), there are missing documents covering the Amiga. There must also be someone onboard that understands the Amiga, etc. etc... Some Amiga companies with money tried and unfortunately still failed. AmiJoe(Metabox), Escena, Phase5 and there were more companies that promised but never delivered. The best example is probably Adam with his PowerVixxen(A1200 PPC + GFX card) where only the user manual was printed more than 2 years ago. Such a project is not one which is simply shaken from the sleeve if you are not a millionaire that also has the finances. Please do not misunderstand, WE would definitely support something like that, but it must be more than than just a pure idea.

amiga4000t
@ apex
I have spoken with many people about it and I think I agree, therfore I will on some time Monday make a few telephone calls and then I can say whether it's possible or not, however it depends on the demand. Perhaps it's a silly idea, but it should be possible.

aPEX
Keep us up-to-date! There are no silly ideas, from a silly idea came the phoenix, then www.a1k.org etc. One must stick firmly to such an idea and it will grow

Plaz

[Plaz]

Personally for classics BlizardPPC is totally enough

Maybe, but there doesn't seem to be enough to go around and I can't afford a used one at the latest prices.

Plaz

[Plaz]

BTW, what I translated was only most of the first page of that thread. There are several more pages continuing up to the present. Takes to long to translate, but maybe I can read more and give a quick update later.

Plaz

[Plaz]

OK, here's my "ultra short report" on the a1k.org thread.

50,000 Euro for bplan to develope and build 500 PPC cards from scratch. Minimum specs discussed... 600mhz with AGP slot for video and tentative name of StormFire. Lots of discussion, no action that I can detect yet.

Of course my German tranlation is crude, so I may have missed plenty.

Plaz

[Plaz]

OS4 is a no-no as there would be no license.

Origianlly OS4 was licenced for classics with a PPC card. This thread started over discussing a new PPC addon card, not a new motherboard which is not covered by the license. However, the current lawsuit between Hyperion and Amiga Inc is an attempt by Amiga Inc to nullify that license and other legal issues with Hyperion. So get your copy classic copy of OS4 while you can if you have a PPC card to use in your Amiga.

Plaz