I haven't read all the concepts dreamt up here, just to keep the head clear :-)
My idea of a new Amiga is this.
Hardware wise the basic components should be off-the-shelf. Let's face it, the Amiga market atm doesn't justify the development of new components.
In essence, I think it should be an off-the-shelf motherboard (from, say, ECS) with a choice of socketed or SMD'ed AMD64 Turion processor, socketed or SMD'ed bags of RAM (it's cheap nowadays so glue it on!) and some ATI graphics-chip. Or in other words: Dirt-cheap AMD64/ATI platformed motherboard with lowish power-consumption.
To make this board an Amiga I think the BIOS should be replaced by a combo of FPGA, and flashable Firmware. This can function as a modern-day Amiga KickstartROM system. Why? Well.. the FPGA can be used as a compatibility-layer for old-school Amiga software. If it's big enough, it should even be possible to integrate 68020 or PPC.
The firmware-part should take care of a few things:
1) Hold an old-school BIOS to keep PC or even IntelMac compatibility
2) Hold AmigaOS4.x startup-code
3) Hold a mechanism to program the FPGA for 68k software
4) Hold a mechanism to distinguish in which way it should start.
Explanation
1) Hold an old-school BIOS to keep PC compatibility
Unfortunately we all need a Windows PC every now and then (in the Netherlands we need 'm for doing our taxes!). It also allows Windows Games to be played. Implementation could be self-sensing based on the media placed in the removable drive or by pressing both mouse-buttons and access a early-startup.
2) Hold AmigaOS4.x startup-code
This is only needed for 'wink of an eye' startup-time.
3) Hold a mechanism to program the FPGA for 68k software
If a CD or floppy from a classic Amiga is inserted, the FPGA should be programmed accordingly and start 'classic Amiga' with self sensing OCS/ECS/AGA.
4) Hold a mechanism to distinguish in which way it should start.
Depending on the removable media being inserted the system should sense how it should start. With a powerfull FPGA there are limitless ways it could start. Think Nintendo, Sega, XBox, Playstation, etc... etc... Only thing important: The user shouldn't press a button.
Sofar... the hardware.
edit... being sober now;-)
Then, we need an OS. This should be Reliable, Efficient, Fast, Slim, an OS! It should perform the tasks an OS should: establish and maintain communication between the different pieces of hardware and influence the communication based on user input.
The user input (and feedback to the user) should be taken care of the GUI. There should be basic functionality available and people should be allowed / able to expand the functionality to their likings. This is essential, I think, as Amiga-users have done just that over the past decade when there was no clear direction given as to where the Amiga should go. As a direct consequence of that decade of user-development it is near impossible to create one solution everybody likes.
And in the end, it should be available, like yesterday!
