amigaone cpu ??

[roger_ramjet]

just a quick question for u amigans out there.

I was just wondering if anybody knows why PPC was the chosen platform for the new amigas? i love all cpus they all have there own advantages and disadvantages but i just dont understand why PPC was chosen . Dont flame me but i would have thought that X86 would have been a better performance/value choice . Eg If X86 was chosen the upcoming athlon64(Hammers) would be used ... 64 bit amiga !? .. X86 is also more available , better price/performance and would allow better market penetration ... Try and explain what a PPC CPU is to someone who doesnt understand computers .  Also wouldnt an X86 path allow for improved hardware eg PCI-EXPRESS and so on and so-forth. Anyway PPC is the choice and i really hope it succeeds but im just curious ? thanx  :-?

[alx]

Not this one again :-)

IMO PPC was chosen because:

* Amiga already uses it
* There are lots of Amiga PPC apps
* It's too easy to get pushed out by windoze on x86
* More custom hardware helps stop piracy

Of course there are other reasons like less heat produced, but those are some of the major ones.  Try searching the forums for past threads on this (there are loads :-D)

64 bit doesn't come into it - the PPC970 will be 64 bit, but AOS won't be for a while.  And the market is tiny at the moment - anyone who wants to buy one now probably knows what PPC is.  That could change later.

Also, remember that both Genesi and A inc chose PPC - they cannot both be wrong... can they?

[Karlos]

@alx,

Agreed.

From a geeky point of view, I prefer PPC and so I'm quite sanguine over the choice.

However, I must admit x86 could have been very interesting.

For the majority of windows users, it hardly seems to matter what stratospheric heights their MHz ratings reach...a 'must have' windows upgrade soon comes along that pulls the system performance back down back where they were before they upgraded their CPU :-)

Few OS kernels come close to the efficiency of exec, a native implementation running on some overclocked AMD would be quite something.

But the same is true for PPC and I for one am looking forward to seeing OS4 strut it's stuff on a decent PPC system :-D

[mikeymike]

I like the idea of using a CPU that doesn't require a heatsink that weighs more than every other component in the system put together :-)

[BADHead]

and noisy fans really get on my tits when playing
music or video allthough new fans are getting
quieter

[mikeymike]

My PC noise problems should all be over when I upgrade to the AthlonXP 2400+ (2GHz), nice new core CPU that *actually* runs cooler, so nice low speed fan in there too :-)

Damn Palomino core AthlonXP... evil.

[Kronos]

alx wrote:

* More custom hardware helps stop piracy

Oh yeah, not that again .....

The limitation to custom will stop piracy of OS4.00000 in
the A1-version, it will have no effect on OS4.0 for CSPPC,
OS4.1,4.2 .... and absolutly no effect for 3rd party SW.

[dammy]

by alx on 2003/5/11 12:18:46

* Amiga already uses it
* There are lots of Amiga PPC apps

Alot?  How many is that?  I thought there were mighty few applications expressly writen for PowerUp (that uses nothing on the 68K and custom chipset side).

* It's too easy to get pushed out by windoze on x86

The vast majority of folks already own x86 (and probably 99% of them with Windows).  So if they already have x86, why would windows push OS4 out of the market?  The only reason to buy a A1 (or peg for that matter) is for the fun of using that given OS.  If you think it's a either or situation of OS4 vs Windows, I think your sadly out of the mainstream of thought.  Even I have a drive with M$ on it because I like to play Dark Ages of Camelot.  Everything else in the house is Linux.  

* More custom hardware helps stop piracy

Funny, Amigas had custom hardware (which I will dispute that A1 has at all) and that didn't do squat against piracy.


Dammy

[alx]

Alot? How many is that? I thought there were mighty few applications expressly writen for PowerUp (that uses nothing on the 68K and custom chipset side).

OK, exaggeration on my part.  But seeing as Amiga is already drifting that way, PPC makes sense as long as it is still viable (which it is).  And people like backwards compatibility (to a point).  Wasn't there a thread here a while ago about someone managing to get one of Hyperion's PPC titles going on MorphOS?

* It's too easy to get pushed out by windoze on x86

If people can run an OS with many games alongside OS4, then there would be little incentive for people to develop games for OS4.  OS4 might not be mainstream now - but we have to aspire to mainstreamdom.

Funny, Amigas had custom hardware (which I will dispute that A1 has at all) and that didn't do squat against piracy.

I was refering to piracy of the OS - there's no point in pirating it if it can only work on an A1 which is sold with OS4.

I was refering to piracy of the OS - there's no point in pirating it if it can only work on an A1 which is sold with OS4.

NOTHING is un-crackable, I repeat, NOTHING.

Anyone remeber Robocop 3 and it's "Uncrackable" dongle protection?  Most people had the fairlight crack before it even got into the shops.

What makes you think AmigaOS4's protection is any different?

[meerschaum]

I agree the argument that useing X86 would cause amiga to lose to windows is just total bullsh*t ... Amiga lost to windows ages ago... it can however keep on par with the CPU's if it uses X86... PPC is alright because of the upcomming PPC970... but X86's price/performance ratio is sweet and the argument about 'if we go X86 we'll lose to windows' is just BS...

@mdma

right on...thats what I'm saying... useing a lame excuse like 'so we wont get pirates' is so transperant... no dongle has EVER been effective...and it WONT ever be effective... besides in a community this small the piracy element is TINY if existant at all... its not even proven to be a big element...

the argument about 'if we go X86 we'll lose to windows' is just BS...

PPC is just an emotional thing, more than anything else.  x86=PC in the minds of Amigans and always will do.

no dongle has EVER been effective...and it WONT ever be effective...

Two words..........  Cubase........ Radium.............. ;-)

[Agafaster]

I'm somewhat surprised that no one mentioned the Endian thing - and the pain in the bum generated when trying to convert from one scheme (the m68k series of processors) to another (Intel).
The PPC series was always intended by its designers to be a successor for the 680x0's, and was designed to be (relatively) easy to change over to.
Not to mention that it is a better processor. In my opinion. (heat, registers, RISC, fresh design not pretending to be a CPU from 1976... ;-) )

PPC was reinforced as the Amigaone CPU as a) there is already Amiga S/W that caters (at least a little) for PPC, and the OS4 developers didnt want to have to arse around with Endian shenanigans as well as having to remove Custom Chips dependencies.

If you doubt, I'm sure Rogue and/or EntilZha will confirm ( Hi guys ! howz it goin ! :-D )

[dammy]

Funny, I don't see AROS crew complaining about the Endian issue.

Dammy