Individual Computers Announces Clone-A Project

[Tomas]

I didn't have a problem with that. It was the advertising that was unnecessary.

So, i guess you want total amiga go the same way as all the other amiga magazines? Is not like there is any other way of getting the word out.
And infact they brought us this article for free, so i dont see any problem with including some words about total amiga.

[Tomas]

Yes it's a great work and all, but imagine Amiga in joystick Chinese copies with 1000 games etc.

Is not that the classic has much of a future anyways. And i personally think that even a cheap copy is better than letting all those classic games just vanish. Not many people own a amiga these days, so such a device could be a nice way to play those oldies again. The c64 joystick seemed to be a sucess, so why would not a amiga one be? As long as it is decently priced, there would be not much need in making a copy.

My dream would be to see something like the c64 stick, but with a way to upgrade the games through something like a SD card and also have some expand  options of for example hooking up an additional stick.

[Tomas]

I agree with you, i dont like the idea of an Amiga in a joystick either. Especially as the hardware will be clones of the originals chips, that means it will be easy to hack the device and run any game you want on it.

What is wrong with letting people run what they want on it? I think the orginal Amiga owe alot to the bedroom programmers and i doubt it would have been much of a sucess if it wasnt open for 3rd party software. Why should you care if i for example hack my amiga in a stick and connect a keyboard and run octamed on it?

Maybe someone can even make it into a portable gaming device  :-)

[Tomas]

I dont have a problem with you hacking into the joystick to enhance it for you own creations. What i would have a problem with is someone hacking into the joystick, adding a flash memory card that holds all the best games ever created on the Amiga and re-selling it for everyone to buy for 30 quid. It ruins the value of some of the best computer games ever created for any computer!

I dont like to see illegal copies being sold either, but i see no difference between selling flash copies and selling discs or cds full of games, as that is happening currently as well. I am very much against people selling even abandonware for profits, but i dont think the system should be locked down as there is so much more legal ways to use it.
I honestly dont think the real hardware or games will have less value because of this.

I have mixed feelings about the whole abandon-ware thing. And i think alot of it is just based on people wanting things for free. I mean, if a book becomes old, it doesn't mean it should be sold for free.

I have a big problem with people selling it on for example ebay or similar. I do however have no problem with such games being hosted for free on the internet when there is no other legal ways of aquiring this said game. I for example have lotus turbo 3 on orginal floppies, but sadly the boot disk got erased. I then think it is perfectly alright for me to download a backup, as there is no other means of replacing the floppy.
But if the game is new and is still being sold in stores, then it is a whole different case. The only people who lose money on abandonware, is the people who are planning to sell their old copy.

Sometimes abandonware is the only way to relive old classics.. Our 10+ year old floppies is slowly deterioating as well, so it definitely a good thing to have a backup.