Will you be buying an AmigaOne X1000 ?

[ajlwalker]

I was a yes, but am still a maybe.

Those worried about the cost, why worry?  You'll probably get your money back in 20 years anyway from the collectors!  You'll get buttons for your x86 stuff.

[ajlwalker]

Another perspective on price.

In 1989 I along with my two brothers stumped up £360 for a basic A500 and no software.  I think the dealer felt sorry for us and threw in a copy of Photon Paint.

Using RPI that £360 would be £671 today.  And using UK national average earnings it would be £842 today.  If we did the same for a B2000, then I suspect that today's prices would be similar if not more than the X1000.

Now, I am happy to admit that the B2000 was ahead of the competition on ability and price, and the X1000 isn't, but for me it puts it in perspective.

Especially as I make about 50000% more per week than then.  And especially as the entire production run of the X1000 is probably less than a couple of hours production run of the A500 when I bought it.

[ajlwalker]

@ajlwalker
You're forgetting that the 1989 A500/A2000 and the 2011 X1000 are not equal in terms of what you get for your money.

In 1989 you got the state of the art system with ton of useful software and games that was no-where to be found on other platforms. The HW was revolutionary and unique, as well as the operating system (for personal computers). The whole setup performed really well against the system of the time, too.

This isn't the case with X1000. X1000 was already ageing technology when it was planned. There are no software titles or games that would justify it either.

Even if you forget all that the PC systems were even more expensive back in 1989. In 2011 you can get probably at least 4-8 better performing PCs with the price (depending on how DYI you'll go).

No Piru, I don't think I'm forgetting any of that, especially when I said:

"Now, I am happy to admit that the B2000 was ahead of the competition on ability and price, and the X1000 isn't......."

[ajlwalker]

I'll still run my favorite amigoid OS on the PowerBook 1.67GHz laptop and multi-GHz Power Mac G5. Why?

I don't agree. The volumes are so small that it makes no sense whatsoever to try to make your own custom HW. What you need to do is to port your OS to whatever suitable PowerPC hardware there is. There is no way that AmigaOS alone can drive dekstop PowerPC further.

I agree it is sensible to port to what hardware is available, but what do you do in the future?  Where next for MorphOS for example?  Will you be porting to PS3 or XBOX360?  What other mass produced PPC hardware is out there after the end of PPC Macs?

At the same time, I can see easy_john's point of view.  I'm fortunate I can afford to buy an X1000 and for me the price will be worth it for the novelty value.  That A500 was the last brand new Amiga I owned.  My A1200 was 2nd hand and my A600 was rescued from a skip.  I haven't used NG Amiga, and I am curious.

For all I use computers for, it will be entirely adequate for me.

[ajlwalker]

Hm right. Sorry about that, missed it somehow.

No need to apologise.  You did make some good points about software, which I guess I didn't think about in depth.

[ajlwalker]

Short term Power Macs and Mac laptops.

It remains to be seen. Maybe something will come along or maybe not. One possibility is to migrate to other mainstream platforms. At least we're not financially ruined for spending hundreds of thousands of euros trying to build custom PowerPC HW, nor have we spent the crucial development resources on yet another miniscule platform.

Yes, I can definitely see the advantages of your approach.

If the X1000 does manage to built some momentum and shift a couple of thousand units, I wonder if you'd consider a port of MorphOS to it?

I am a "maybe" on the X1000, but if I do pick one up, I'd like the opportunity to try MorphOS on it too, and Trevor has stated he has no objections.

[ajlwalker]

I must say that the continued comparisons between Amiga and PC/Mac hardware based upon GHz and such like are not at all helpfull. I'm not going to try and convince anyone that a 700MHz PPC can out perform a 6 core super beast PC when raytracing and such but the clue is in the wording, PERFORM! It's not numbers of cycles that matter, it's how fast and well a computer gets the job done. If the job in question is picking up a few emails and the process is that of turning on the machine, collecting mail and turning it off again then one could argue that a SAM out performs many modern PCs as the job may well be complete on the SAM by the time the PC boots. Even on x86 based machines some tasks are no quicker now then fifteen years ago with a 486. It all depends on what you use the machine for, if 99% of that time is typing then the big speed up comes from improving the speed you type at does it not. This is also abou what resources that are available, windows eats cycles for breakfast leaving less available power then the numbers may suggest. Take all this into account and we see that hardware comparisons are not, by a long shot, the whole story.
Please note I'm not having a dig at anyone here but it's a fair point that needed a mention.

I agree with what you say tripitaka.

However, Piru will come along and ask why you shut your machine down every time anyway.  You can just use sleep/hibernate mode and it awakens in seconds.

Me, I'm old fashioned and do shut my windows boxes down every time, so what you describe is attractive to me, but it may not be attractive to others.

[ajlwalker]

@lsmart

I guess it falls down to taste then, but I think your input is indeed valid.

Personally I have no experience of preferences in OS4, but if it's anything like 3.1 then I will be happy.

Windows preferences are ok once you get used to them, but I hate the inconsistencies between the likes of XP and Vista.  I also hate all the eye candy crap which just makes it harder to use for me.

[ajlwalker]

I still reckon anything is possible, if the idea is good enough and you have the willpower to see it through.

I may be getting on a bit, but all this defeatist talk and total disbelief in just what someone can achieve, only goes to show the almost total lack of self belief and defeatist attitude in folk today.

It's almost as if folk have resigned themselves to the belief that the little man can't do anything anymore without the backing of the multi nationals. It's a sad sorry world we live in if thats the attitude folk have today...

I still remember the thread Dennis van Weeren announced his minimig in.  Full of disbelievers and downright rude individuals and neg-heads.

If you're interested franko the link is here: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19361

[ajlwalker]

A first time poster announces something that defeated dev giants of the community past...

Given the sheer number of scams and vapour projects this community has been subject to over the past decade, the reaction he received is perfectly understandable. Indeed it was in part due to this that the dev took the decision to announce it only when it was ready to roll.

Yes he was a first time poster.  But reading his post he said he had uploaded photos that hadn't shown yet.  So the prudent thing to do would have been to wait and see the evidence before shitting all over it.

And can you not see the irony that we have people here saying things can't be done, and then here comes one genius that ACHIEVED (not announced) "something that defeated dev giants"?

[ajlwalker]

Of course, didn't original Amiga developers burn through 7 million 1980's USD developing the Amiga?  That's probably about $20m in today's money.

Have the Natami team burned through $20m developing their superAGA and 68k replacement and all their other work?  I highly doubt it.  Sure the Natami may never see the light of day, but assuming it does.  It shows what could be achieved.

I wonder what the development costs have been for the X1000?  I bet it's only in the tens of thousands.

[ajlwalker]

....How are you going to convince the VCs to invest in your business if you don't have some guaranteed way to generate profit?

I think that's something we could all learn from AmigaInc!