NG X5000 Advice

[Acill]

I've thought about getting one, and here is my take on it and why I have still put a pause on getting one.

The hardware is nothing special, is more or less just standard hardware (and out of date before it was even sold) that has some fancy firmware allowing OS4.1 to run on it.

The software is far from done and doesnt even take advantage of the existing hardware. This was the same on all the past models of the NG systems as well so I dont expect it to catch up on this model as well before the next, if a next is even made or starting to be introduced.

Past hardware is totally abandoned now from the manufacturers.  You cant get a single thing for them any longer, including the massively expensive X1000 machines. This single factor alone is what scares the hell out of me. I just cant spend that kind of money on hardware that has so little available for it over my classic systems to justify the expense, no matter how nice it is.

I truly want to see the NG systems take off, but until the speed of development and driver support for the currently available hardware gets up to speed I just cant bring myself to take the plunge.

[Acill]

I would say, the X5000 has enough expansion possibilities with the PCI-x slots...

Are they PCI-X or PCI-E? I hope they are not PCI-X, its not supported by anyone now from what I understand since PCI-E more or less took over.

I am very interested in the X5000, but as I mentioned the hardware support that is missing is very troubling to me to consider it still.

[Acill]

@Acill

they are PCI-e slots, not PCI-X. and precisely what hardware support is missing that you keep mentioning? AFAIK the only thing missing is the on-board ethernet driver and SMP support.

-- eliyahu

If thats all thats missing now I take it back, but it still seems to be going very slowly as far as hardware support goes and new software. I did say I am interested in them, but just a bit skeptical of its long-term success.

[Acill]

I'd really love to see the OS4 team release a version for the G5 Powermacs, even if its just an internal version to show what the X5000 can do alongside it once and for all. I know if or when MorphOS comes out for it things will be a bit better since we can compare how it runs on both systems, but I am interested in OS4 too and want a reason to spend this kind of money over just using a fast PC or my A4000T with a CSPPC in it before I do it.