A500 for the 21th century

[Dan]

How would you do it?
A1 or Peg2 is all very nice but they doesn´t have a chance to reach the sales of the A500(+).

[Doppie1200]

A low end Dell PC is closest in marketing terms.

[bloodline]

Dan wrote:
How would you do it?
A1 or Peg2 is all very nice but they doesn´t have a chance to reach the sales of the A500(+).

The Whole concept of the A500 is long gone. The market which it filled has been split three ways:

1. Low End "Multimedia" PC's
2. Games Consoles
3. Mobile Computing (Laptops/PDA's)

(Honestly, the Cheap PC's most closely match the A500 market)

There is no going back.

[Doppie1200]

Well said.

But as Dan is a defender of the faith there are more like him:

http://www.cybernetman.com/

They just build a PC in A500 concept!

But really PC is ruling the mass sector now and I don't see it changing soon. But you'll never know.

[Holley]

Project Reality looks promising, but yes the cheap PC is the closest in terms of 'computing for the masses' ... :-?

[Dan]

Doppie1200 wrote:
Well said.

But as Dan is a defender of the faith there are more like him:

http://www.cybernetman.com/

They just build a PC in A500 concept!

I wanted to say that is just a crap pc by reflex but then I tought about it and there is actually uses for it.
and the Imac G5 is something similar.

But both are overpowered(and heated :-)) for the actual job they will be doing.

[Dan]

Holley wrote:
Project Reality looks promising, but yes the cheap PC is the closest in terms of 'computing for the masses' ... :-?

could be nice but I was after marketshare and usage rather than formfactor.

[Dan]

bloodline wrote:

Dan wrote:
How would you do it?
A1 or Peg2 is all very nice but they doesn´t have a chance to reach the sales of the A500(+).

The Whole concept of the A500 is long gone. The market which it filled has been split three ways:

1. Low End "Multimedia" PC's

There is no DPaint on pc, no Protracker and the demoscene seems to be dead. Maybe the HTPC-community they seem to have a similar creativity.(and the would have loved "Say")

2. Games Consoles

Yes thats how it all started wasn´t it?
Thats lost forever today people buy $$$$-PCs just to play the latest Wolfenstein-clone with improved graphics.

3. Mobile Computing (Laptops/PDA's)

That´s rather a new market isn´t it? Did hardly exist back then. Ok 386s with crap-lcd abd 3,5"floppy but nobody could afford them.

(Honestly, the Cheap PC's most closely match the A500 market)
There is no going back.

What, electrical typewriter/wordprocessor and web-surf-tincan.

[Dan]

To qoute someone: "I have a plan."

Make A500 the "My first computer" use a pc104-board(pc104+ or pci104 or whatever the pci compatible version is called) and massproduce it.
Market it in different sectors.
1. at preeschool kids.
2.at school kids
3. as a industrial solution
4. as a rugged mp3/pocketvideoplayer
5. as a rugged pda/data-entry-in-the-field device
6.as a small and simple "just plug it in"-server for print/storage-server
7. with pci-expansion as a STB
8.with pci-expansion as a hometheater-pc

Thr 1.) is the most important because if we could get the kids used to our userinterface then they would prefer that in the future. Remmember how we all started with games and then DPaint and Say on the A500. Later we started to really use the WB for example to paint, copy a floppy and listen to a MOD-file at the same time. :-)

Also the 0 to 3-year old test is superior to the testing in the industrial testing, they neither chew on the computers or puke on them:lol: nor do they use them as a hammer.

Everybody knows that "digital" and "computer" means fragile and prone to breaking, rigth?
Time to prove them wrong!
And just think about the adverts.
And making a product that doesn´t fall apart just because you look at it to hard would make a company standout from the rest in the computer industry.

Oh and it should be BLACK silver/metallic is equal to crap these days!

[MaDDuck]

I wanted to say that is just a crap pc by reflex but then I tought about it and there is actually uses for it.
and the Imac G5 is something similar.

But both are overpowered(and heated :-)) for the actual job they will be doing.

WTH???
I got my G5 iMac last week, it's been on non stop for 4 days and is still VERY cool to the touch!

The G5 runs as cool as it looks, and YES- it should of been an Amiga....
HMMMPPPHHH!

[Al_B]

Dan wrote:
How would you do it?
A1 or Peg2 is all very nice but they doesn´t have a chance to reach the sales of the A500(+).

The Apple Imac G5 is close, but not cheap... not in the same category.

The closest thing I can think of is a Sony Playstation 2, add the Linux Kit to it (Keyboard, 40G HD, Mouse, NIC, VGA Cable) for less than $300US ($149 for PS2, $100 Linux Kit)...  and it will even have the classic Amiga reputation of being a "game machine," not a serious computer...   :lol:

Oh, but wait, for $200US you can buy a low-end PC with Linspire on it from Walmart... Maybe it can be the "Atari!"  :-o

[Waccoon]

They just build a PC in A500 concept!

I shuffle my keyboard around a lot.  I never realized how much the A1200 form factor sucked until I tried to move it around to take strain off my wrists.  I prefer the Pizza Box machine, myself.

The A1000 had the best form factor ever for what you got.  Has any other computer in history had a keyboard garage?  :-)

could be nice but I was after marketshare and usage rather than formfactor.

Three words: local computer shop.  Cheap prebuilt systems from Compaq, Dell, HP and other are complete CRAP compared to a custom machine built by people who know better.

There is no DPaint on pc, no Protracker and the demoscene seems to be dead.

There was a scene for the PC?  :-)

"Oekaki" is the new DPaint, and there's always ModPlug Tracker.

Thats lost forever today people buy $$$$-PCs just to play the latest Wolfenstein-clone with improved graphics.

Today's games don't scale anywhere near as well as they should, and they aren't very balanced, either.  It bothers me that Unreal Tournament 2004 pretty much expects a kick-bottom video card, but assumes you don't have a DVD drive.  I mean, is it really necessary to distribute the game on *SIX* CDs?

I got my G5 iMac last week, it's been on non stop for 4 days and is still VERY cool to the touch

I hated the iMac.  I hated the "new" iMac.  I hated the Cube.  The iMac G5 is acutally pretty damn cool.  The best Pizza Box ever.  :-)

Do cables cause problems where the display swivels on its own, or misbalances the display?  Can you lock the display into a particular position?

[Dan]

MaDDuck wrote:

I wanted to say that is just a crap pc by reflex but then I tought about it and there is actually uses for it.
and the Imac G5 is something similar.

But both are overpowered(and heated :-)) for the actual job they will be doing.

WTH???
I got my G5 iMac last week, it's been on non stop for 4 days and is still VERY cool to the touch!

The G5 runs as cool as it looks, and YES- it should of been an Amiga....
HMMMPPPHHH!

I meant that it was overpowered and therefor needed more cooling than necessary for simple terminal/point of sale-jobs.
Im sure that power is useful for other stuff though.

[PMC]

bloodline wrote:
The Whole concept of the A500 is long gone. The market which it filled has been split three ways:

1. Low End "Multimedia" PC's
2. Games Consoles
3. Mobile Computing (Laptops/PDA's)

There is no going back.

That's right.  You can build a bloody decent PC for £350 which might not be state of the art, but certainly won't embarrass you.  Back in the day, the A500 cost £399.

I'd love to see a low end Amiga with a state of the art chipset and mid spec CPU with a killer OS, but there's no chance it would appear on the shelves for £400 or less.  Sony and MS make a loss on every PS2 / X-Box sold as they recoup costs on licensing the games, which isn't an option for a platform like Amiga.  

[whabang]

Dan wrote:
To qoute someone: "I have a plan."

Make A500 the "My first computer" use a pc104-board(pc104+ or pci104 or whatever the pci compatible version is called) and massproduce it.
Market it in different sectors.
1. at preeschool kids.
2.at school kids
3. as a industrial solution
4. as a rugged mp3/pocketvideoplayer
5. as a rugged pda/data-entry-in-the-field device
6.as a small and simple "just plug it in"-server for print/storage-server
7. with pci-expansion as a STB
8.with pci-expansion as a hometheater-pc

Thr 1.) is the most important because if we could get the kids used to our userinterface then they would prefer that in the future. Remmember how we all started with games and then DPaint and Say on the A500. Later we started to really use the WB for example to paint, copy a floppy and listen to a MOD-file at the same time. :-)

Also the 0 to 3-year old test is superior to the testing in the industrial testing, they neither chew on the computers or puke on them:lol: nor do they use them as a hammer.

Everybody knows that "digital" and "computer" means fragile and prone to breaking, rigth?
Time to prove them wrong!
And just think about the adverts.
And making a product that doesn´t fall apart just because you look at it to hard would make a company standout from the rest in the computer industry.

Oh and it should be BLACK silver/metallic is equal to crap these days!

Lysande, Sickan, lysande! :-D

We need to move away from the thought of the computer as a big, begie box, that can only be used by nerds.
If a three year-old can use it, then it's usable by the majority of people. This is where AmigaDE/Java/Insert-your-favourite-VM-here come in pretty handy: You would like one common UI for everything, though all the components are specialised for their specific applications. Bluetooth would be excellent for connecting it all. In the end, you could use your PDA to control the stereo, the DVD, and the TV. A Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, or joystick could be used when needed. In the middle of everything, we'd have a CDTV-like device to control it all.
It wouldn't have to be connected to a monitor or so, you'd just control it via VNC.