New Hyperion Entertainment Website http://a-eon.com/ - The Mystery Continues

[Crom00]

Here's what we know:

Somekind of multicore high speed ppc chip probably dual core
NOT intel...
Sata ports
PCI-e, PCI, zorro style slots
8 usb
optical audio and standard pc audio out
somekind of FPGA
Somekinf of video chip called XENA
mini pci slot
modern ram chip usage
high speed ethernet

[Crom00]

Time to speculate on price. If this is another top dollar for dated technology scenario then it'll be another Amiga fanboy folly that will sit next to the MiniMig, Sam440, CDTV, PowerUp Cards.

BUT if it's pried right it can attract tinkerers and coders and innovators then alright they're onto something. A low power device with powerfull HD video I/O and expansion possibilities can have lots of applications.

[Crom00]

Looks like they're content to string us along for the next few days...
at least until the fifth. See you in nother month or so. lol..
http://a-eon.com/6.html

[Crom00]

@Crom00

Erm, not sure why you are taking a dig at the minimig. It's hardware design is open source, so you could build your own at component cost if you wanted to.

Can see how that can be considered a dig at MM.. .I actually love the thing and own one. Just saying how this new board can easily be another Amiga fanatic NICHE bit of hardware. Especially when you see the list of vaporware announcement.

From what I see, current/past behavior forms future trends. Lots of motherboard announcements, legal battles, lot of bad energy...

 With all that said. If it hits the sweet spot in features and price it could be a hit. Think of a modern A1200-4000 with all the amenities of modern computing... an HD Amiga with video I/O.

[Crom00]

Karlos, if the new thing-a-ma-jig from hyperion is cool enough it will sit right next to my $214 (cost to assemble by hand) MiniMig, A1200, XB360, PS3, E-fix Mac/PC and Video Setup.
The video I/O speculation is interesting. Kind of like the Commodore Amiga of old. Put high end hardware in the box and let the community develop applications for it.

Given Hyperions slow and steady pace (as opposed to even slower en unreliable pace of other players ) this could be a good development after nearly 16 years of BS... I can't believe it's been that long since C= went bust...

[Crom00]

Maybe the whole X thing stands for the CPU... MAybe tehy're using the same CPU Xenon from the XBOX or somekind of derivatie. THE XBOX CPU It's a Modified PowerPC that has gone through some cost reduction revisions. The Big area for a heatsink fan would make sense... just my speculation.

[Crom00]

I'm betting that the whole use of Zorro like slot, reference to custom chips, joystick port tease and at teh aeon site.. when you type AA, AGA, AAA in the script popup over the slots suggests that there is somekind of legacy board that plugs in there. Jenns isn't the only person that has worked on an FPGA Amiga clone project. With te open source nature of Minimig it's not a stretch that somekind of legacy solution has been found.

I'd be hapy with a Rock solid WinUAE implementation.

[Crom00]

I think the Puzzle nonsense... BUT...Although freakin' annoying it's good net publicity... heck I'd setup a twitter and facebook page and put folks on an easter egg hunt...

When the thing does finally ship, tehy'd be wise to send review copies to folks like Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Jim Lauderbach and other tech foks with podcasts and such. this will create more buzz... the free kind... The Amiga is so old now it's become retro cool again. Anything retro= Tech street cred and "coolness". Look at all the 8 bit fanatics out there...

[Crom00]

"Yes, it's high-end hardware. No, it doesn't have the number of cores you are thinking of. Whatever number you are thinking of. At least, not necessarily."


This is silly... just do a splash page with details and an actual ship date, price details... etc. I hope in six months I can look back at this and chuckle with this new piece of hardware on my desk.

[Crom00]

"If their idea of a good computer is in any way like their idea of a good looking website, we're all doomed. "


ha ha ha ha ha ha that's true. I'm so used to rinky dink websites when dealing with this whole New PPC Amiga / Os4 subject I didn't even consider the site design. (present website excluded from comment as it's rocks)

I was thinking...the whole puzzle thing is almost making fun of the community in a way. A tease... after all the hell loyal Amigans have been through.

How about this:
Price of fully configured system or just motherboard.
Availability
Dealers
Software Developers with confirmed titles
VIDEO of the thing booting OS4
Speed Comparison using Legacy software running on this hardware.

For inspiration visit http://www.apple.com
http://www.alienware.com

Cheers!
M

[Crom00]

I'm very excited for the final information. I remember when NewTek had to reinvent themselves and move away for the Amiga Video Toaster Flyer. Today they are very successful with their TriCaster line which has the heart and spirt of the Amiga Video Toaster 4000 on steriods. It's time for the Amiga under Hyperion to reinvent itself too.

ahhh the Tricaster.... A very Amiga like setup.... features heavy use of FPGA's as well.  Even more than FPGA it uses brute force approach of DirectX card, and CPU speed to work it's magic, at the heart is the PC Toaster VT4 Live card for the SD versions.

Newtek is fond of the Amiga...There's one guy at NewTek that has an Amiga shrine.
At one point they even had a multicore Lightwave renderer called screamer...that conected to the Amiga... with a nice case design.


Would love to see this new amiga capture HDMI video. I don't think it would work for NewTek though... they've totally moved on and the TC relies on technology like, flash, vc1, Windows media, DirectX that is robust (compared to OS4) and well supported. TO implement a Toaster like device would require lots of code to be written from scratch.

But a new Amiga with the potential for HD video IO is cool. Would be cool to have a new HDTV SUPER AGA chipset that is totally compatible with HDTV like the original chipsets worked with NTSC and PAl SD video.

[Crom00]

I have to disagree that the Amiga never competed on price. It always did. Comparing it to the Spectrum/64 - still available at the A1000 introduction is unfair. You have to compare them to the 8-bit machines at the introductory price of those older machines, and to contemporary mac/pc hardware. I paid about $1500 for my 1000 in 87 or so...

The problem with the whole situation back then is that Commodore needed a drop in replacement for the Commodre 64 for mass retail, that's what retailers wanted. Something that could hold up against PC's and Nintendo... A refresh item around 87-89. Commodore never delivered one... by then the Amiga was not marketed as a MASS item. That one mistake (and many others) brought down the house of cards.

They had a sterling reputation of a runaway mass market hit... the ipod of it's day and made one critical mistake.

I've spoken to retailers and toy experts who just shake their heads in disbelief when they think about that...They had prime shelf space that YOU NEVER GIVE UP.. that's like rule #1.

[Crom00]

EON definition...

An eon is an indefinitely long period of time. In geological time it is the period of time that includes two or more eras.

Could the EON reference to two or more eras refer to legacy amigas and new OS4 or OS5?

hmmm

[Crom00]

I don't know about that, they tried, I think it depends on what market you were in. In the UK at least the A500/A600/A1200 was sold as a mass market item (compared to other computers/consoles of its time).  I was not ever really aware of anyone owning a big box amiga as they were well out my price range.

In the UK you had David Pleasance (I belive that was his name...) who was on the ball...You also had the PACK in games... in the USA the offerings were no where near as snazzy. A healthy account with Wal Mart or mass retailers of the time was key.

[Crom00]

Lord almighty... if I wasn't so swamped I'd redo that page for them.... Web design sure ain't they're strong point. The logo could use some work as well...