AMIGAONE.... isn't it an obsolete technology already?

[dylansmrjo]

Well, it's a bit dated, but with a G4 @ 1.4 GHz it's not that dated ;-)

And add a cheap 160 GB HDD and 1 GB SDRAM (2*512 MB) and you have something which can compete with my PC (and that one is a bit dated too).

That's why I'm saving money for the AmigaOne (or whatever comes up when the money is there - gimme some months - I'm a student) :-D

Besides that, OS4 compared with most other OS'es is a good reason to buy an AmigaOne (if you like Computer Science that is).

[dylansmrjo]

Probably a G9 @ 1.9*10^10 GHz... oh wait.. that one doesn't exist :-P .. but it's a 1024bit CPU with 1 TB of Level9 cache  :crazy:

[dylansmrjo]

Well, I don't consider the AmigaOne for obsolete. Not compared with what is still sold on the x86 platform. It is however terribly overpriced (the prices are typical around 4-6 times higher than they ought to be, sometimes even more).

But if you're interested in Computer Science and especially OS'es, I believe it's worth it (to a certain extent).

[dylansmrjo]

Buyers of OS4 prereleases can get updates without paying more.

And I'm used to use alpha, beta and pre-releases.

Besides that, a final version of package X doesn't mean it's better than a beta version of package Y.

Any coder knows this.

If (!softwareExist) {
    doWriteIt();
} else if (softwareExist) {
    doRejoice()
}

It's that simple...

[dylansmrjo]

No it didn't. And there is no website for Amiga OS 4.

And it doesn't have datatypes and it doesn't run fast on even old hardware (with fewer resources than embedded systems).

No it doesn't. Because, if it's not a final product officially then it's no product, says The Mighty Midget.

The Mighty Midget also says: "Releasing unfinished software is a crime, especially if you charge for it - unless you call it a final product. Then everything goes."

The Mighty Midget's Rule #3: "However, releasing really good software as unfinished software is really bad and deserves a strong punishment! It's better to release poor software as final product, than to release good software as a pre-release. Especially for the customer".

........

I don't believe in The Mighty Midget :-P

[dylansmrjo]

Things happen.

I don't think Apples switch to x86 will make a major difference in the long term. Nor in the short term since it will take quite a while to finish the transition from PPC to x86.

The only problem IMO is the high price for the AmigaOne and the small production.

We need more A1s and a 67-75% cut on the price. The same goes for OS4.

[dylansmrjo]

It would be nice to have a major (or just a medium sized) hardware vendor. But...

Another option is to replace the chipset.

[dylansmrjo]

There's no question the price is too high. Of course it's too high.

Low production == high price.

Eyetech does not have the financial strength to mass produce in great numbers. However, this is nescessary for the price to drop enough for the masses to buy the A1. Right now it's selling for the classes instead of the masses.

The major question would be: From where should the needed funding come? I'm blank on this one.

But in regard to the whether A1 is obsolete from a technological POW, the answer is "no".

But it's too expensive, which has a very logical explanation. I think the base quality of AOS4 is enough to make A1 look good, but I'm probably the only one :-P

[dylansmrjo]

Tigger wrote:
I have no idea why you would think that.  Apple buys over 4 million high end PPCs, thats not something thats going to get swallowed up by the Eyetech, Genesi, etc.  Instead those lines will go to making parts for Microsoft, Sony & Nintendo.  The 775's production is going to dump down very low, and I don't think we will see a G6 or quad G5 at least for a long time, and maybe not ever.

Quite simple. The switch will be finished medio 2008 according to Apple and Freescale.

Tigger wrote:
On June 6th, the switch was announced, at Siggraph (August 2-4) basically all the main players have there software running on the mac prototypes, when NAB rolls around (April of next year) I fully expect the x86 laptops (and maybe desktops) will be shipping and the software for all will be available.  Why do you think its going to take quite awhile to finish the transition??  This is the last year of only PPC macs, and I think before this time next year, there will be no PPC macs at the Apple Store.

Since the switch wont be finished until medio 2008 according to Apple and Freescale, then there will be PPC Macs for sale in 2006 and 2007. And support for these will stay around for another decade. The G3 and G4 CPUs will be very obsolete way before production of them stops.

It's a wonder you believe that you can switch so fast, as you think they can.

It takes many resources and much money to make such a transition.

[dylansmrjo]

Porting OS4 to x86 would be even better ;-)

At least in regard to availability of hardware and hardware prices.

However, supporting the wide array of hardware could turn out to be quite troublesome.

Porting to x86 would give a much greater market, allowing for lower prices and therefore larger sales numbers :-D

[dylansmrjo]

Well, the only clearly outdated item here is: PC133 SDRAM

Good old PCI is not obsolete, nor is AGP.

SDRAM is obsolete, but you gain next to nothing with DDR RAM when the FSB is running at 133 MHz. However, considering the lower prices on DDR RAM, it would be great if it was possible to use it with A1.

A1 is not obsolete, it is however overpriced based on specs.

The only way to get lower prices is to produce a lot more. That requires quite some investments, which apparently is a major risk for a company like EyeTech.

I'd prefer to see AOS4 running on a Peg2 :-P

[dylansmrjo]

Coldfish... exactly...

imagine AmigaOS4pr running on one of these cheap 1.8GHz Duron-pc's, with 256 MB ram, 80 GB Harddisk, AGP 8x, and so on .. for 25% of the price for one microA1-C :-D

[dylansmrjo]

Well, nothing prevents me from playing old amiga games on my x86 PC ;-)  (however: I'd prefer to spend time on coding a Gimp-clone from scratch.. but that'll have to wait :-P )

Backwards compatibility is mostly important when you have a large application base. However, there is hardly any application base left on the Amiga side - compared with Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and Windows.

However. Sticking to the PPC platform would be good. Imagine AOS4 ported to Peg2 :-D. Quite better hardware for half the price of an mA1-c :-o

Besides that, machinecode for the PPC looks much better than x86 machinecode.

The PPC is elegant :-P

[dylansmrjo]

Well, we did mess a bit with PPC asm in school. Looks way better than x86 asm IMO.

Haven't seen 68k asm but I've heard it should be a beauty :-P

[dylansmrjo]

bloodline wrote:
Both are very much obsolete!!! No one in their right mind would buy these technologies any more.

PCI and AGP 8x isn't obsolete. There are newer standards, but mobos with PCI-E are approx. 5-8 times more expensive than mobos with good old PCI and AGP 8x. Most graphics card are still AGP-based, and 32-bit PCI is still the most widely used standard.

The fact that there are newer standards, does not make older standards obsolete. It'll take 12-18 months before they can be considered obsolete for the home user.

Only hardcore gamers benefit from PCI-E and DDR-RAM2.

I wouldn't buy a DDR ram machine anymore either... DDR2 is now the minimum spec, I would part with cash for.

Well, you're a hardcore gamer, right?

I don't buy expensive stuff. I buy the cheap stuff, and a lot of that. 1024 MB DDR-RAM is much better than 256 MB DDR-RAM2 :-P

You also consider 32-bit CPUs obsolete, right? And parallel IDE? Despite the fact that most computers sold are still 32-bit and most harddisks are still parallel IDE?

REPEATING: The fact that there are newer standards, does not make older standards obsolete.

Obsolete and over priced, it always has been.

Nope, just overpriced. Look at it from home user perspective, and not from a narrowminded clueless stupid hardcore gamer, who knows next to nothing about optimizing a system :lol:

Not a major risk, simply an impossibility, the money is not there.

Nothing is impossible. However, certain actions are extremely risky.

An x86-64 board would be better.

Well, it would be overkill. But it wouldn't be bad. But x86-64 is still 5-8 times more expensive than a standard 32-bit system. Remember: Selling for the masses, not the classes. We don't care about hardcore gamers, we care about the home user. No need for anything above 1.5 GHz, nor higher than AGP 8x or DDR-RAM.

We're not building a high-end server system, you know :-P