What are the advantages of the present/future Amiga?

[DavidF215]

>1) What would be special about it?

It should be so simple to use that a computer-challenged individual could use it, yet powerful enough for advanced endeavors. A compact design that doesn't clutter; something like the MacMini or iMac, or the A500|A600|A1200 line.

>What would make people want to buy it instead of a PC?

In America, competitive in price, which is now about $395 for a base system. It would have to be focused on the consumer market. A Productivity Application Suite would need to be able to read and write in MS-Office datatype formats.

>2) How can the Amiga recreate the charm it once had as an inexpensive multimedia computer?

Cost $395 and be able to do word processing, spreadsheets, email communications, save and organize pictures easily, databases, acccounting, JavaScript, Java, Acrobat Reader, Flash, Shockwave, and some good quality games which Amiga has a good collection though some are outdated.

>3) What are the hardware solutions for the Amiga considering it typically uses hardware that can be outdated, limited in quantity, generally incompatible with market leader?

Something that's cheap, readily available, will be around for a long time, and designed with efficiency as top priority. In reality, Amiga needs a technology Partner, and it would be an x86 manufacture. Even Sun Microsystems ported their SolarisOS to x86, so that should be motivation enough business-wise.

In brief, use low cost hardware (x86, get over it cause there's nothing cheaper), port AmigaOS4 to it, create and include in the base system aLife and aWork (similar to iLife and iWork) application suites, and include Firefox as a modern web browser.

Then market the computer to China, because they have plenty of people to buy and to help develop for it.     Actually, working with a company from Japan may not be a bad idea because they have gadgets and technologies that are more advanced, technical, and "gadgety" than America.

[DavidF215]

@Beast96GT

>The Amiga would need some kind of "niche" to fill that's not being currently exploited.

Every business writing, even the get rich ones, say to find a niche market. I completely agree. My idea of the niche market is an inexpensive computer that is extremely simple and comes (out of the box) with software needed for such market.

>I would like to think that the new Amiga would have an architecture that would not be held back by backward compatibility, as the PC seems to be. Why couldn't backward compatibility be provided in software emulation?

The JIT emulation is find, IMO. A new system needs to be engineered with current new ideas for system architectures. The catch would be a bridge system between current architectures and the future system. I thought Amiga's AmigaOS5 was a good idea until they decided to have it basically like a Java OS atop another OS; then you're competing with Sun--not a good idea, and why would someone buy an OS that requires the extra expense of an underlying OS. It's a bad idea, IMO. AmigaOS5 should have been AmigaOS4 but on x86--or even just on a modern PPC system.

>On more realistic note, however, I think Hyperion has the right idea. An OS would seem to be the most logical way to promote the Amiga despite the hardware it runs on.

I agree. I would like to know the underlying reasons why Amiga canceled the contract. I would also like to know if someone presented investment capital to Amiga to further develop AmigaOS4 if they would be interested. I think Amiga is going down the same deadend path that Be, Inc went when they decided to try the Internet Appliance market; it's the same market, but just named differently now.

>In the end, of course, it's a pipe dream, but it's still fun to discuss. And I think it's good to bring it up, regardless of critics that think it's pointless.

Without the dream though, new technologies and innovations would not be developed. Many new technologies are born atop previous technologies, and Windows is the perfect example--as MS typically copies rather than innovates.

The dream needs a focus and a niche, and, IMO, further AmigaOS4 development on existing modern PPC hardware is the first step with a port to x86 as the step thereafter. Money should be spent on developing (or acquiring) a good software suite for the PPC AOS4 before spending resources on porting.

Along that line, is there even an IDE available for AmigaOS development? Is StormC even still being updated or available? I recall SASC, but is it even still available? Are there any decent development tools for AmigaOS3.9 or 4.0?

[DavidF215]

Steril707 wrote:
I wonder if some people will only be happy, where we have one OS and one hardware running everything. We are nearly there, almost everything is running on x86 now, and we have mostly Windows, and the "Unix/BSD" derivative world (i am including linux and Mac OS X in this category as well, forgive me).

I can accept that opinion, i just wonder why people like that  are on a forum like this...

To me, an Amiga is my small A1200 with enough modernization for me to use it in my basic computing work. For me an Amiga is the slick Operating System, a small footprint which allowed quick boot times, the small case, and the ease of use. My Amiga allowed me to write papers for college classes and to play games while my college mates were trying to figure out how to get their PCs to work through modifying config.sys and autoexec.bat.

So for me it doesn't really matter what hardware is beneath AmigaOS so long as the system architecture design is highly efficient and it is designed to work with the OS for smooth, quick operation.

[DavidF215]

@persia

Acetone, nice.  :-D    I too think the Amiga lives in us. It was a superb system that was fun to work with. Something about the interaction with the computer made computing fun. It was a really simple computer that was designed in such a way that it was also powerful, expandable, and fun.  

For some reason the C64 really spoiled me and gave me little patience for booting a computer. On the 64 you turned the power on, and within 2 seconds it was ready for commands. My A1200 spoiled me more when it booted to a GUI within 5-6 seconds, and the only reason it didn't boot faster was because the RPM on the HDD was slow. I've yet to find a computer that can boot like them.

I remember wanting an A2000, but my dad bought a Gateway 2000 386 DX-33 instead while I was in High School. I tried to persuade him to buy the A2000 with the IBM XT bridge card, but he wouldn't do it. So after about a few years of the GW2K, I bought an A1200 after the 486DX-33 chip didn't impressed me. And, my luck, about two years after I bought the A1200 C= went bankrupt. I was hoping Amiga Technologies was going to take up the slack and re-establish it, but we know what happened with them. Good product with unfortunately management decisions coupled with a fiercely changing marketplace.

Anyways, back on topic. ...

[DavidF215]

If AmigaOS4.x is still in development, then I presume that it follows along the path of the future AmigaOS5. ??  AmigaOS5 is platform independent, so when will these new updates be available for us without the Classic Amigas equipped with PPC cards?

Is there any way to make the Minimig or SAM440ep appear to be a classic Amiga PPC transparently to AmigaOS 4.x?

IMO, allowing an AmigaOS4 update to run on such new PPC hardware would be beneficial and attract new customers, and it's something that could be completed within the next 12 months or so.

[DavidF215]

@persia
>AmigaOS 5 = Tao Group Intent

I wonder what version of AmigaOS4 will start to show signs of the new AmigaOS5, particularly regarding to the requirements of the underlying processor and platform.

[DavidF215]

@amigadave
>You must mean Efika instead of "Minimig", as the Minimig is not PPC and does not have the computing power to run AmigaOS 4.x.

Yes.