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

[persia]

Interesting site, even a guru meditation.  

It asks what is "X" and calls it "Aeon."  

The X Window System (commonly X or X11) is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for networked computers, and was initially developed as part of Project Athena. It implements the X display protocol and provides windowing on raster graphics (bitmap) computer displays and manages keyboard and pointing device control functions. In its standard distribution, it is a complete, albeit simple, display and human interface solution, but also delivers a standard toolkit and protocol stack for building graphical user interfaces on most Unix-like operating systems and OpenVMS, and has been ported to many other contemporary general purpose operating systems. Desktop environments of Unix-like operating systems offer the X Window System.
X provides the basic framework, or primitives, for building such GUI environments: drawing and moving windows on the screen and interacting with a mouse and/or keyboard. X does not mandate the user interface — individual client programs handle this. As such, the visual styling of X-based environments varies greatly; different programs may present radically different interfaces. X is built as an additional application layer on top of the operating system kernel.
Unlike previous display protocols, X was specifically designed to be used over network connections rather than on an integral or attached display device. X features network transparency: the machine where an application program (the client application) runs can differ from the user's local machine (the display server).
X originated at MIT in 1984. The current protocol version, X11, appeared in September 1987. The X.Org Foundation leads the X project, with the current reference implementation, X.Org Server, available as free and open source software under the MIT License and similar permissive licenses.

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So it would appear that X is coming to OS 4.1, which may be how Netscape and Apache are coming, Hyperion are porting X, great move, it should provide a lot of open source software quickly.  Evolution, Open Office, the GIMP, Apache, maybe even MySQL all at once rather than one at a time.  It would be a brilliant move.

[persia]

X is hardware?  X86?  Dare we dream?

[persia]

So the X is just a clever ruse to deceive us?  

No we dare not dream. x86 has been ruled out many times by the Frieden brothers. It will probably be ppc based.
My guess is an STB.

[persia]

THey're porting AmigaOS to Linux?

[persia]

Yawn, wake me when there's some real news......

[persia]

Yeah, the market is pretty brutal out there right now.  They need to be price competitive to have a chance.  But they know that as well as we do, so let's give them a chance.  Let's hope for a US$499 intro price complete with a 17 inch screen.  Another greater than US$500 motherboard would kill the enthusiasm for sure.

Question is, can they sell a complete Box with OS4 for under $500US with reasonable profit for the retailers.

[persia]

Yeah, we'll wait and see, I guess, if they can deliver anything close to Mac performance at a Mac price they've done something that hasn't been done in two decades, but we'll see.
Hopefully it's not another 64 Mb graphics and sub 1 GHz processor at a thousand Euros, that would just start people laughing....

[persia]

The A1000 came into the market doing things that no one else could do, so price wasn't an issue.  Today we have a much more mature market.  The vast majority of people can do what they need on sub US$400 machines.  It's a different world.  A >€1000 machine would be competing against some pretty powerful equipment with some pretty powerful software.  

A €400 machine could stand a chance as a second or third or fourth computer in someone's home.  Price is critical if you want to obtain market share, and market share is critical to gaining software.

You're in 2010, you really have to play by 2010 rules, there's no "do over" in IT.

I personally hope Hyperion don't compete on price: they can't.  And neither did the Amiga.  The A1000 was hugely expensive...  The next machine, "for the masses", was expensive compared to other "home" computers such as Spectrums or 64s.

Let's see what Hyperion have come up with, understand what it costs and then work out if it's worth it.  They're not daft, they know they need a business case for this and if they've got investment in this day and age it means they've convinced someone!

I'm intrigued as to what this will be, and am hopeful.  if it's something that can put the fun back in computing, I'm behind it all the way

[persia]

That's just it, I don't think there is a "something" in 2010. Port OpenOffice, get flash and java working, without those three there's zero chance of being a "first computer."  Even then it's a long road.  I'm still in contact with a lot of ex-Amigans, none of whom are in a hurry to remove the "ex," another ridiculously overpriced machine like Sam isn't going to bring them back.  Something in the netbook price range might, if it did interesting things...

But the OS is going to have to give up a lot of the anachronisms Amigans like to be popular...

What if this machine comes along doing something that no other machine can do?  That would be utterly gobsmacking, and is teetering on the very edge of possibility...  And what if the machine could also run everything people know and currently tolerate, becoming the first computer in the home, not the fourth?

Don't ask me what that "something" might be, because I don't know
...but it's what the A1000 did.

If it doesn't do something exceptional (which is the word they use), then it's all just marketing and bluster.

Market share is critical, for sure, but what's the market: is it every computer user, every geek, every former Amiga owner?  The value proposition is different for each, and that can radically skew the perceived value and acceptable price point.

Fun debate, and at last some possibility of something that's a spiritual successor to the Amiga, maybe?

[persia]

I've said that what Hyperion needs to do is at least become price competitive with Apple, selling mobile phone spec hardware for over over €1000 is not being price competitive.  Nobody expects them to get down to PC range, but can they get down close to Apple range?

Folks here laugh at Apple prices but current SAM price/performance ratios aren't even in the same order of magnitude as Apple's....

I don't have a clue what Hyperion are developing but a sub €300 with HDMI that hooks into your television wouldn't be a bad product, if you can develop the software to make it usable.  IE Make a *usable* Apple TV.  There's a bit of an opening there, Apple TV is a great idea poorly implemented....

But they're not selling you a motherboard - there's plenty of others that will do that.  As I understand it, and I am probably wrong , they're selling you the whole shebang much like Apple does.

People complain apple is expensive, but it does what it does very well.

It will be interesting to see what this does.

Part of me thinks that the difference is that this really is a reconfigurable computer (FPGA) which is why they're excited to see what people will do with it...  But I guess it's got some power to back it up too, and the OS to support such a thing?

Tomorrow will be interesting, that's for sure.  I just hope it's not too much of a disappointment.

[persia]

I just tried "a cheeseball" and got the same answer...

Actually, If you write xeon, this is what you get : "For all I know, you're spot on. Unfortunately, being a weak and feeble piece of Javascript, I didn't understand. Sorry."

Well, just tried again with another answer... same reply. Sorry.

[persia]

Watermoose, the old XBox 360 processor?  How exciting....

X

E

N

O

N

not

X

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O

N

[persia]

So whats the black drop shaped thing on the bottom left of the board?

[persia]

True, but a niche machine that just might sell a few tens of thousands.  You don't have to take on the big guys to survive, just carve out a big enough niche.  A lot of companies work this way.  

The X1000 is a decent low mid-range computer that has some unique features, these features are a hook that will grab hobbyists who are interested in something different.  Combined with clever advertising, they can do well.  

Y'all have to be smokin crack through a pipe to believe this could compete with Mac or PC. This will be a niche machine at best...and maybee they'll get some embedded uses or  some industry will use it like some form of industrial PC or appliance.

At best we can hope that this becomes the leading RETRO PC or hobby project pc of choice (folks will potentially run Atari Falcon ,C64, Old Game Console, Amiga cores) and the Fast OS4.

Within that space I would expect thousands of units to be sold, if it really takes off... tens of thousands.

[persia]

How about a punched card reader too?

Floppy drive, LOL.



Your right ZeBeeDee, more questions need to be answered.