Mediator Review - Should I buy one?

[alexh]

redrumloa wrote:
Amigakit is great and that Prometheus price is outstanding!!

Towards the end of Matay you could buy the Prometheus at $99! Now it's $198... My how the $ has fallen over the last few years.

[alexh]

The A4000Di is a more aesthetically pleasing product in that it replaces the daughter card, the PCI cards are a nice fit (The Prometheus design is stoopid) but the Mediator doesn't have any video slots so you cannot fit a scandoubler which doesn't clip over the chips :-(

[alexh]

Mechanically the prometheus just doesn't work in the desktop Amiga's. I mean come on:

http://www.relec.ch/prometheus/images/A4D01.jpg

It didn't mechanically work well in the towered Amiga's either.

http://www.relec.ch/prometheus/images/A4T01.jpg
http://www.relec.ch/prometheus/images/A3T01.jpg

I am sure I read that the prometheus creator didn't particularly like the final design.

Matay probably knew they were only going to get one shot at this. High development and manufacture costs meant that the PCB they designed had to work mechanically in all Zorro III Amiga's so as to be compatible and hopefully lead to more sales. I think the big problem was that a lot of the A4000 desktop users had already towered their machines using a multitude of mechanically different cases and different Zorro busboards. They had to come up with a mechanical design that would work for all models.

I feel that this decision was a compromise too far, the Prometheus design resulted in being mechanically poor in all cases. There were things Matay could have done (but I dont think they did) to mitigate the problems:

o Matay could have tried to sell the PCI riser card you demonstrate in your example A4000D. I am almost sure this was a user discovery and a homebrew mod.

o Matay could have designed and sold metal brackets to make it easier to fit PCI cards safely and sturdily. I dont think that ever happened.

It was the right product (technologically speaking) and right time. Just a poor roll out and too many corners cut to lower costs. Matay should have targetted one case (probably official commodore A4000D) and created the best possible mechanical design. Then use the profits from those sales to pay for PCB reworks (and metal work, replacement back panels etc) for other cases.

This (to me) is just common sense... there must be more to the story we dont know... I wonder what it is?? Anyone?

[alexh]

redrumloa wrote:
You know what year the Prometheus was released?

Late 2000, early 2001? I remember posting to usenet with Grzegorz Kraszewski about AmiPCI (original name) in 1999 when I joined my first hardware company after leaving University.

redrumloa wrote:
Do you know how many were produced in total?

No. I'd like to though. Hint Hint.

redrumloa wrote:
Do you know what quantity most major Amiga hardware releases are produced in?

200 - 1000 units. Obviously there is the price break at 1000 units which can sometimes work out cheaper than making fewer units.

redrumloa wrote:
Let's just say very few companies do it for the money and many end up losing money.

Absolutely.

redrumloa wrote:
I don't remember if Prometheus production details were ever made public, but I can say that Matay did not get rich.

I can very well imagine. I am always amazed any Amiga hardware project ever breaks even.

redrumloa wrote:
Don't be fooled into thinking Elbox is raking in the cash or is a big company. You will probably never see another full new product from them again, just minor redesigns.

They are not a good company. Their ethos is to make money at all costs. But they are still around, hats off to them.

redrumloa wrote:
I like Prometheus, you don't. You like Mediator, I don't. We are both entitled to our opinions.

Actually I liked the G-Rex ;-)

I never understood why the Golden Gate 2+ never took off between 1994 and 2000! At least for sound cards and network cards. It was an incredibly cheap to make card. It is almost unheard of.