Bloatware AmigaOS?

[koaftder]

Quite right, and it is more than doable.  I would even strongly suggest partnering with nVidia, as they have a GPU and chipset design with some merit, but need to utilize it on a non-PC.  Some smart development, custom ASIC for the CPU, maybe a better memory controller, we'd have something.  Imagine a true legacy-free system paired with a super-thin OS embedded into the mobo.  

Or you could just focus on the software, which is what really matters.

[koaftder]

downix wrote:

koaftder wrote:

Quite right, and it is more than doable.  I would even strongly suggest partnering with nVidia, as they have a GPU and chipset design with some merit, but need to utilize it on a non-PC.  Some smart development, custom ASIC for the CPU, maybe a better memory controller, we'd have something.  Imagine a true legacy-free system paired with a super-thin OS embedded into the mobo.  

Or you could just focus on the software, which is what really matters.

And wind up on a dead end as you sink 18 months into developing "only software" just to have the one hardware piece you relied on dry up, with no alternative?

Have you not learned the lessons of the A1 and Pegasos?

Where they went wrong was tying down to a custom board. Stuffing some CPU core on an asic and having NVidia roll out a chip doesn't do anything but make it cost more. Heres an idea, do what apple did, float your platform on standard pc hardware. Nobody cares what chips are in the box. Advances in hardware don't impress people anymore. This is the late 1980s.

[koaftder]

And gain vendor lockin like Apple is suffering from now?  With AMD, Intel and nVidia all forcing Apple to cancel products ahead of schedule, delaying the rollout of products, and generally hampering the platform development?  Sure, sign me up, and watch as we go *poof*.  Apple can get away with it due to their user base, we can't.  We're the other guys, the guys nobody bets on!  We want a future, we can't be the other guys, we have to be the best guys.

So, I'm willing to discuss this option, tell me, how do you propose gaining the documentation to enable us to even port our OS to the next-gen Intel or AMD CPU's?  The next-gen chipsets?  Next gen GPU's?  Now now, no bringing up todays products, we're talking a new platform, we need to hit the ground with the new OS, new apps all running on the new CPU Intel ships in 18 months before anyone else has had a chance to code for it.  Propose to me how we manage that, with our market how it is today.

Your argument doesn't make much sense on the processor side. Sure, new procs come out every year or 6 months or something, but architecturally they are the same.

The graphics processors and other types of devices, yup, moving targets. It's just something you have to deal with. Creating your own just means that you get stuck in an expensive and never ending cycle of obsolescence while the bigger players eat your lunch.

A small company like Amiga doesn't have the funds to go an talk to nvidia or IBM and pay for customized versions of different types of hardware just for the sake of having all the specs let alone actually having them fabbed.

Processor specs are easily avaiable. The linux folks are putting together software that runs on all kinds of stuff, the bsd guys are doing it, hell even Aros is running on cheap common hardware.

Aros will have a web browser before you could even work out a spec for a custom processor or get all the paperwork done to get access to the latest specs on an NVidia or ATI up and coming device.

[koaftder]

I'm gonna get flamed for this, but here it goes.

In my oppinion the smartest thing Amiga Inc ever did was AmigaDE. Too bad they failed.