The natami looks very close to completion.

[KThunder]

Close to completion, close to booting, we have an odd view of things in the amiga community. Some of us are pretty jaded by vapor in the past. The one I wanted most was Mick Tinker's boXer thingie, that looked really cool.

Minimig and other projects like Aros and UAE have changed my mind somewhat on what we in the community can do. we have some pretty talanted and capable people still. I'm still not convinced Natami isn't too ambitious, but hey I've been wrong before. I would be glad to be wrong if I can plunk down some cash monies on a Natami soon.

[KThunder]

Yeah these hardware projects are nice, but so is sitting down to a multi-core multi-ghz system with several gigs of ram, a brand new pci-e video card all running Aros.

Let the professionals with hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of employees design and manufacture the hardware.

Of course I have a 68000 project I'm working on. Very unambitious just cpu, ram, eeprom and a ks0108 lcd controller, and maybe an audio dac.

[KThunder]

That is how I see Natami, I'm not pinning my hopes on it or anything. They are presenting it pretty agressively though. I tend to look at most things as vapor until proven otherwise. I know that may upset some people but I have worked on several projects over the years that were just geek hobbies. Fun to goof around with etc. When you set up a whole webpage and forum system and start setting up news etc. it goes beyond just a simple geek project.

[KThunder]

We are? There's a constantly running thread on the dev' side about keeping it quiet so as not to whip people into a frothing rage when it doesn't meet their expectations. Then there's a lot of followers who just seem to think it'll be the second coming of Christ!!! :/ We're trying not to get peoples hopes too high, we just started off doing a _terrible_ job of it.

It's more than just a geek project; we want to release it with basic features that beat a base A4000/A1200 setup. That's it. Everything else, no matter how many times we say it, is for AFTER that. The 3D Core, improved sound etc etc etc almost all of it is for after, the base platform just has to be capable of supporting that future work AND be as compatible as possible with old software.

We'll get there I think, Thomas has done some amazing work, but he is the originator of the project and the only one doing the hardware much like MikeJ with the fpgaarcade board so it takes time.

Back on topic: Close is a relative term, I think MikeJ is much much closer than we are and I'd love to buy one of his boards myself when they're available. Not necessarily for NatAmi but just for what it is in and of itself.

Andy

Maybe "aggresively" is a little strong of a word. I have looked over the site and was quite impressed with the site itself. What I can't really tell as much about is the product. One of the most impressive projects in the history of the amiga was minimig by Dennis van Weeren. That was completed in secret, then shown to the world.
Natami is as amibitious as boXer, I'm just hoping it doesn't share the same fate.

[KThunder]

staple-gun, hotglue gun, and duct tape?

[KThunder]

I switched from silicon to software amiga's years ago and have not regretted it in the slightest. I can turn my system on and run any piece of software from os1.0 ocs to 3.9 aga or rtg and anything in between smoothly and with little effort. If my system dies I don't have to search desparately for some rediculously overpriced replacement. For the same price as a Picasso IV I can get a pretty decent 3d card.
 
    The whole "russian roulette" I played when I pressed the power button is over. Someone else can worry about if the next time they turn the physical amiga on is the last. I think a Natami would probably be worse. You have one producer, with limited runs, on specialized hardware. Try to replace or repair that.

     I do have some amiga hardware still, but it doesn't work and that doesn't really matter to me. I have some amiga discs still but they are probably dead too. They are all backed up on cds.

     Minimig, Natami and others are cool little projects, but if you think they can do better than Aros and UAE on a netbook, laptop or desktop monster, then I have a bridge for sale in NY you might be interested in