ARM based Amiga?

[Heiroglyph]

As much as I like Arm, I don't think another platform is the answer.

I agree with the others, you can't count on software support, even for PPC based platforms.

68k is pretty much the one constant in the Amiga universe, we just need them to be faster, cheaper and available.

[Heiroglyph]

I love AROS, but I have a hard time pinning my hopes on it, it's just glacially slow to progress.

Hyperion has the source and the ability to license, but tie to costly licensed hardware.

I could see MorphOS making a good run at Arm once the used Macs run out, but I don't think they are in too big of a hurry to make a new platform either.

Another platform shift would divide the few developers and users into even smaller groups than we have now.

Something like the Natami CPU is probably the better bet for Amiga long term IMHO.

When people think Amiga, they think 68k.  All the beloved software is on 68k, the rest are almost always ports just because the 68k CPU was too slow.

Everyone seems to agree with 68k.  If you don't have one, it's easy enough to emulate, so it has the most broad appeal to all groups.

[Heiroglyph]

@Number 6: That's very interesting.  I wonder which part needs the funding?  Even drivers for existing PPC solutions and Mac computers seem to be quite a stretch, I can't imagine how a CPU change would ever take place.  It's almost like they want someone else to make money for them.

Even then I think my other points still apply, especially the point of further dividing the community.

[Heiroglyph]

@billt: I totally agree on this.  The Arm would be just as "Amiga" as PPC is.

As I've never had a spare $1000 to buy into a PPC Amiga, I can't say how Amiga-like it feels, but I guarantee that the PPC chip wouldn't be the reason for feeling Amiga-like and an x86 wouldn't prevent it.

[Heiroglyph]

@billt: My basic point was that Hyperion seems barely able to make minor changes themselves with their resources.  Another platform change doesn't seem within their capability, so having AOS4 support for Arm seems extremely unlikely.

MorphOS seems able to get things accomplished much faster, but they also seem to have their priorities exactly where they want them already.

FPGA tech is getting better every year, I can foresee FPGA 68k's that could reach PPC speeds within the next few years.  I'd buy that in a heart beat.