Nycran wrote:
I don't think cell's are a good solution. Too expensive, too radical and completely unnecessary. Seriously an OS as lean and mean as Amigo OS should run so damned fast on a standard 2GHz machine! How fast did the A500 run again? ;-)
How standard a 2GHz system are we talking about. One that comes with Windows preinstalled? Why not just ask Amiga to GIVE AmigaOS to Microsoft since all major preassembled brands of PCs pay OEM licence fees to them.
OEM and standard licencing are an important way to keep Microsoft from taking over any MORE of the industry than they already have.
BTW there is a 1.7 GHz G4 accelerator announced from ACK Software Controls for the AmigaOne XT and MicroA1-c and yes AmigaOS does fly on them. If they were available to everyone it would be good for Amiga but they simply aren't.
The A500 ran at 7 MHz and came with a buggy version of Workbench 1.3. WB 2+ came out and most of the Amiga software wouldn't run on the enhanced chipset because people were so used to bypassing the OS that by the time WB 3+ came out nobody cared about the OS they just wanted to bang on the chipset. What's left for people who bypassed the OS? Nothing.
The Cell is expensive primarily becuase of the large die size and because it runs on RamBus memory. But seriously, if people are willing to pay $750 for a 1.7 GHz G4 processor then what will be the difference if people buy a PS3 instead? Sure OEM licencing will go to Sony but they're taking a loss. I think moving to the Cell is a good idea becuase the instruction set of the SPEs are designed not to need to change so only the PPE needs to improve.
