Thank you everybody for your answers.
I see two different Minimig software compatibility lists :
http://www.opencircuits.com/Minimig_Software_compatibilityhttp://www.loriano.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/what_works.htmWouldn't it be a good idea to merge them ?
@DyLucke
Easy, get a Classic computer for our little pieces of art,
and get a new board that means improvement to use new
software and new capabilities.
As I said, reliability is the key for me, so that a Minimig suits me better than anything else I know as long as the software works on it.
But as you can know UAE does fairly good on PC's, just
figure what could be emulated if you add some custom
oldskool chips on a new Amiga computer. (Emulation would
be way easier, way efficient for only a bunch of $ more)
That's what i mean.
Actual Amiga manufacturers that are able to design a
"minimig" that is not an "improvement" by itself but
an old computer in a new shape, could add the
imprescindible hardware used on that minimig to our
new mainboards to add some "oldskool emulation mode",
with a really effective result.
But noone decided to do that.
Yes, and adding real custom chips to emulation could solve my animation problem that I mentioned in my previous post.
As a resume, i would not buy a minimig, i would buy an
Efika or a Sam440ep instead a minimig, and keep at the same
time my old A1200 till the moment some of these platforms
reach the point of having an efficient backards emulation
using software or maybe using some part of hardware
either in future models.
I still haven't found the time to learn what the Efika and Sam440ep are.
the result of every improvement effort Phase5 or other
great companies also was "New oudtated hardware".
Why? Our Viper accelerators could not compete with
PC's in performance due the loooooooooooow clock rate
of our A1200 and A4000 mainboards... 14mhz. And if
you were able and lucky enough and rich enough to
afford an A4000 with some 3D card like the
"awesome" "Cybervision 64 3D" you got a really
expensive sollution using an S3 Virge chip, while
PC's were using GPU's even ten times faster...
Even my Playstation was more efficient than that
and costed a fraction of what my Amiga costed.
Of course, but you are talking about the 90s : at that time the harm was already done by the press, which on the contrary and most of the time _wanted_ the Amiga hardware to be old and slow and the software to be programmed for those setups (just open any video game magazine of that time), and the technology factor you describe cannot be considered as the primary factor of the Amiga's destiny - it's just a normal consequence of public perception. And the high prices were just a normal consequence of this low demand.
That's what happens when new hardware gets stuck
by using a platform designed with standards
from 15 years ago, Commodore got stuck with
that retrocompatibility, so third party manufacturers
were not able to improve the system by themselves.
Retrocompatibility was important, and wasn't a problem at all in the IBM-PC world, so I don't think it is a significant factor either. Since general public press refused to know the existence of the Amiga 2000 then 3000 and 4000, because of complex psychological factors, the public has ignored them as well, and the Amiga was already condemned to commercial then development death at the time the 500 and 2000 were released. Since graphic or processor cards were equally ignored by the press hence the public anyway, I suppose that Commodore concluded that improving the system and joining forces with third-party manufacturers would not help the sales.
@DrDekker
As I remember it most A500 owners (myself included) were unwilling to upgrade because:
1. The majority of games were poorly coded and would only run on bog standard A500/A1000/A2000.
I agree, and I think I can demonstrate that it is the only consequence of bad journalism.
2. High end/expanded Amiga's still had very poor printer output compared to the PC.
To my knowledge the Mac had similar problems, but survived.
3. High end Amiga's cost an arm and a leg - but still lagged behind the PC in most (all?) business applications.
4.Expansions and peripherals also cost an arm and a leg. Since only ray tracing software and the like could take real advantage of the added harware it seemed like a lot of wasted money to the average user.
That is only a secondary factor, since price is the consequence of poor sales, which in turn are a consequence of public and press perception. In the 80s, 386 PCs had a worse quality-price ratio than a 68030 A2000, if I remember well.
5. PC's were becoming much cheaper, powerful and better supported.
This is a corollary.
@alexh
Thank you for your help !
arkpandora wrote:
3. Can I expect some games/demos to work perfectly although some others don't work at all, in other words can you confirm that what prevents some games/demos from working doesn't harm others in any way ?
No
Well, the idea of buying a Minimig is not very exctiting anymore then, as I need it to run at least some games perfectly. I think I will rely on others' experience.
STOLEN SOFTWARE
Who has edited ? If this "stolen" means "copied although copyrighted", it must be noted that discontinued software on perishable magnetic media has to be copied in order to be used, and in order to be preserved if it has cultural/artistic value. Any copyright is wrong preventing this, unless the authors/artists themselves expressly want their work to disappear (even this may be discussed when it comes to a masterpiece).
@TheDaddy
Thank you for your advices. If I buy a Minimig I won't miss your case.
