I ordered a SamFlex system yesterday

[mbrantley]

...with 1GB of memory from AmigaKit. Planning to run Blender on it, among other things. That's even though I have a half-dozen other computers with other operating systems that will all run Blender just fine and no doubt faster. :-)

Got excited about the X1000 until I saw the price. Not gonna be able to do that, sorry to say.

[mbrantley]

@mbrantley

welcome to the club:)  I'm sure you'll be surprised how snappy Blender runs on the Samflex but of course you'll have to go get a coffee during very large rendering..which always reminds me of waiting forever to render with my 1200 and Lightwave back in the day but I never cared because it's the responsiveness of the program while working that matters to me;)
Don't forget to check out glUAE to run  your old apps and especially to play ECS/OCS and most AGA games! RunInUAE is also a good program for 68k stuff but it's not that good for AGA stuff..then of course there are hundreds of goodies at os4depot to keep you smiling...enjoy!

btw, I would stick to update 1 for now because some people (me included) are experiencing some USB flaws under Update 2

Thanks for this -- good info here. I've ordered the complete kit with Update 2 preinstalled, so I may have to experience any USB flaws firsthand.

While I wait for my new computer, I'm deciding which monitor to use with it. I have a couple of candidates in the house, but the best I can shake loose from other duties is a Samsung B2330. Native resolution is is 1920 x 1080, I think. Will the included Radeon 9250 graphics card with 128MB produce that OK? Nothing I hate worse than using a non-native resolution on a LCD monitor.

I didn't mean to imply that a specific X1000 price has been announced, but the Trevor Dickinson interview posted under the news section seems to indicate it will be more than I can pay. Not saying anything about whether it's worth it, only that I can't pay it.

[mbrantley]

My new computer is still "being picked" at AmigaKit, so I'm just going to have to be patient. But as I wait, I just started reading the wikibooks manual on Blender called "Noob to Pro," and imagine my happy surprise when I see Amiga mentioned so early at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Blender_Windowing_System where readers are told to use LAmiga+M or the front/back gadget to switch screens. Feels almost like we're back in the mainstream.

[mbrantley]

Please forgive if I interrupt every once in a while to talk about my new computer, but I'm excited. I almost said new Amiga, but I didn't want to get into that argument. Still it will be my first new, not preowned computer purpose-built for running Amiga OS (I don't like AmigaOS) since February 1993.

Anyway, the update from AmigaKit has the new Ami... er, computer all packed up and "awaiting dispatch." I'll post pictures when it gets here and my review later on. I really hope the aforementioned Samsung 1920 x 1080 monitor will work out OK.

OK... back to the other topics...

[mbrantley]

Face it, we're all mad here to varying degrees. AmigaKit reports my 'puter has shipped, so I just celebrated by buying Hollywood, Hollywood Designer and Malibu.

[mbrantley]

AmigaKit tracking seems to indicate this computer is crossing the Atlantic on a rocketship or something, because it's going to be here Tuesday. Woo hoo! Only bad thing is it looks like they sent it to my billing address (maybe my bad during the ording, don't know), which means I'm gonna need to intercept that package before I have some explaining to do. (What, that computer, honey? Nah, that couldn't have cost very much -- it's all outdated technology. )

[mbrantley]

Oops.... read the tracking date wrong. The computer will be here tomorrow, not Tuesday. Yea! Today, the rocketship from the UK landed in at the FedEx hub in Memphis, Tenn., so there's a new "Amiga" in Dixie.

Now I'm downloading stuff I want to use from OS4Dept, clearing off a desk surface and anything else I can think of to get ready for the arrival. Unboxing pictures to come, you can bet.

[mbrantley]

Here's the teaser.

[mbrantley]

Sorry, ended up stuck at a doctor's appointment all afternoon. But I did get the computer set up before going. The keyboard and mouse are throwaway items but the little tower case is nice. AmigaKit overall did a good job of putting this system together, with what looks like hot glue used in strategic places to keep things from coming apart during shipping. There were two hard drive mount screws loose in the case, but no harm, no foul. Looks like I didn't have to suffer through the no-backplane era of the Sam boards!

[mbrantley]

First shot shows the insides (note missing drive mount screws). This machine boots faster than any Amiga I've ever owned. The first photo of the monitor shows the Workbench screen before I set the proper resolution for the display. The last is the test screen at 1920 x 1080.

Had lots of blanking problems at this resolution that I couldn't solve using a DVI connection. So I ended up using a VGA cable and all is well. The monitor does double duty with another computer, so I'll use the DVI for that machine.

So far I'm a happy, happy camper -- a screen-dragging, multitasking, multimedia fool.

[mbrantley]

No regrets. Yeah, it's expensive, but I doubt anybody is getting very rich off this stuff. It's the reality of a platform being the smallest of niches. I've spent as much or more on expanding and upgrading classic machines that don't give me this level of performance, and they lack the reliability. My 4000 has been in pieces for months now because of problems.

Gonna get a better keyboard and a nicer mouse, though. These are cheap, cheap, cheap and take away too much pleasure from using the 'putter. I think ordering the kit without them would have save me $6, so I know these aren't high-ticket items.

[mbrantley]

What have you done with it so far?

I've had so little time with the machine since yesterday that I haven't actually done anything but install stuff. And figure out that I can't run this resolution using a DVI cable without getting screen blanking issues. Old analog VGA cable to the rescue there.

Today I bought a Logitech LX8 cordless mouse at Best Buy and ordered a Das Professional S Keyboard from Das. My input devices just have to be top-quality. Even got the nice lady at Das aggree to send me a couple of blank keycaps for the Windows (Amiga) keys.

Got Blender and ImageFX installed and working. Next I'm going to try to get TVPaint going and then Hollywood (which I just purchased but have never used).