The natami looks very close to completion.

[kolla]

You can still find spare parts and qualified repairs for these machines, and what best: if your hardware fails completely, it is relatively easy to find a replacement.

But god forbid you find some hardware you'd rather run MorphOS on than what you already have.

[NovaCoder]

I see two possibilities for a 'new' AGA chipset, either a drop-in replacement motherboard for classics or a new mini-itx motherboard.  If you're going to go to all the trouble of reimplementing the chipset in FPGA's then you might as well perform some minor improvements (eg faster CPU, memory speed), although further more drastic updates are all very nice on paper (eg 64 bit blitter, chunky display modes) you then run into software incompatibilities (eg the more enhancements, the less compatibility you have).

Obviously this kind of thing is only going to sell to existing classic users who are fed up with their caps exploding and ex-classic users.

As a classic user myself, I wouldn't be prepared to pay much more than about $200 for an enhanced motherboard which wouldn't really offer me much over my existing AGA 030 machine.  At that kind of money, it would be very difficult for anyone to get back their investment into making such a board.  I guess this is why Jens hasn't bothered to bring CloneA to market even though it appears to have been completed.

And where does all that leave Natami?

[Tripitaka]

I've never liked emulation much and TBH I don't even like using a PC keyboard for an Amiga OS. It makes me feel a bit queezy. As for Aros and MorphOS, I couldn't care less about them. I like my Amiga's as hardware and providing the price can compare well enough with an A1200 with extra RAM and an '060, IDE controller etc.. Natami has a sale.

Beyond OS3.9 I'll go for a SAM for now. Low power consumption & footprint are more important to me than raw power as I have a powerful PC anyway and until the software starts to emerge that needs a truly fast OS4 machine I'm not worried.

Let's not forget that UAE is only ever likely to go as far as OS3.9 (as are some other solutions) and is therefore "retro", like it or not!

As for hardware availability being a reason to go for Morph OS over Natami (for example), pah! Old Macs will die too folks.

As I final comment I'd just like to say that all of this is irrelevant as we only have a couple of years 'til the world ends and the dread lord Cthulhu eats your souls.....  

[persia]

PearPC could be developed to run AmigaOS 4.1 (which appears retro by design if not by age).

[Tripitaka]

That's a fair comment but I'm not an emulation fan. It would offer another choice however for those that feel happy with an emulator.

PS. Persia, that bug in your sig has been running around for ages now. Don't you think you should give it a buddy, it looks kind of lonely.

[ToddH]

Looks like they're getting closer...

http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=1¬e=20767

[ToddH]

And here's some video of Natami. Looking good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rydE7wa_5d0&fmt=18

[B00tDisk]

Natami's interesting but all they've shown thus far is nothing you can't do with MiniMig AGA by accessing the extra chip RAM, or WinUAE by bumping up the chip RAM to 8mb in the settings.

There was some talk a while ago about a 3d GPU built in; is this now no longer the case?

I ask because I don't (and never did) give a fig about the Amiga's "special 2d capabilities" ...

[ferrellsl]

@Piru

I think you're missing the point of Natami.  It isn't competing with any PPC variants of AOS or MorphOS.  The Natami is simply a hobby project and is what should have been the successor to the Amiga 4000 had Commodore not folded (SAGA graphics and a 68060 core).  And your argument that the hardware used to run MorphOS is easily repaired or replaced is flawed.  Try to get warranty repairs or replacement parts for a PegII or a MacMini.  It's an oxy-moron to say that MorphOS has taken an approach that allows it to run on a wider range of PPC systems.  There simply isn't a widerange of PPC ANYTHING.  The number of running PPC systems is finite and drops daily as these systems get trash binned or experience hardware failures.  MorphOS is on the same slow sinking ship that has been "Amiga" for years.  I agree that the X1000 will not be a success.  Too pricey and too narrow a market.  And until the Amiga community accepts the fact that PPC is a dead end, all the AOS variants will go down on the same sinking ship.

[SamuraiCrow]

Natami's interesting but all they've shown thus far is nothing you can't do with MiniMig AGA by accessing the extra chip RAM, or WinUAE by bumping up the chip RAM to 8mb in the settings.

There was some talk a while ago about a 3d GPU built in; is this now no longer the case?

The FPGA is reconfigurable logic.  The contents of the FPGA are loaded at boot time using Flash memory.  There will be future versions of the Natami cores that will require a reflashed FPGA to access the new features.  The 3D core will be software upgraded later on once the hardware is shown to work properly.

The only things that we've seen the NatAmi can do that the MiniMig AGA core can't at this point are access the DDR2 memory at full bus speed and do hardware-accelerated alpha-blending in chunky mode.  The reason you haven't seen anything special is because the test code is still 2d.

[trekiej]

One thing I hope we get from all of this is " no more stinking bankruptcies".

[Piru]

@Piru

I think you're missing the point of Natami.

I don't think I am.

your argument that the hardware used to run MorphOS is easily repaired or replaced is flawed. Try to get warranty repairs or replacement parts for a PegII or a MacMini.

I was obviously talking about Mac Mini. While there are no warranty repairs, the spare parts to Mini are dirt cheap. Heck you can buy several Mac Minis for the price of other "custom" PPC HW. You can find very good repair service for the Macs still. Try that with your custom PPC HW after 5 years...

It's an oxy-moron to say that MorphOS has taken an approach that allows it to run on a wider range of PPC systems. There simply isn't a widerange of PPC ANYTHING.

Nonsense. There are millions of PPC Macs around still.

The number of running PPC systems is finite and drops daily as these systems get trash binned or experience hardware failures.  MorphOS is on the same slow sinking ship that has been "Amiga" for years.

It is far more sensible to port to these easy targets than to spend years working on x86/amd64 port with no releases at all in the meanwhile. This really is the best option for now.

Obviously eventually we will need to re-evaluate the situation, but the Mac systems won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

[Louis Dias]

I imagine the next step is AGA demos.

Did anyone notice how fast those jpegs were decoded in full color and the resolution?
I'm sure it's child's play to the Minimig... O_o

Natami will enable back-porting from AROSx86 back to 68k for things that current 68k
Amigas lack due to graphical processing power and memory thru-put.  Think SDL...OpenGL1.x ...etc... (OWB 68K port...etc...)

This is for hobbyists and demo-coders at first...and the developer boards will be expensive as they have announced since the beginning.  The consumer boards will be cheaper.

Funny how critics are silent now that a proper video is shown...

[Louis Dias]

I don't think I am.


I was obviously talking about Mac Mini. While there are no warranty repairs, the spare parts to Mini are dirt cheap. Heck you can buy several Mac Minis for the price of other "custom" PPC HW. You can find very good repair service for the Macs still. Try that with your custom PPC HW after 5 years...


Nonsense. There are millions of PPC Macs around still.


It is far more sensible to port to these easy targets than to spend years working on x86/amd64 port with no releases at all in the meanwhile. This really is the best option for now.

Obviously eventually we will need to re-evaluate the situation, but the Mac systems won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

MorphOS needs a Wii port!  Then I will finally try it.  Now that is good cheap hardware with millions around.  Until the hardware gets that current, a MacMini is still a timebomb.  Bounty anyone?

[Piru]

MorphOS needs a Wii port!

No, it really does not.

Bounty anyone?

You'd be wasting your time, but sure if that rocks your boat...

[TheBilgeRat]

It's all good!  MorphOS is good, PPC is good, AROS is good, fiddling with FPGA is good, tinkering with classics is good.  Each one makes someone happy, each one is challenging in its own ways.  It is blatantly stupid to call one superior over the other, or one project more important than the other.  If I had PPC Mac products I'd probably give MorphOS a day in court, so to speak.  I'd really like to see MorphOS running on the last gen PowerMac G5's.  There's still a whole bunch of life left in those boxen.  But to see that reality takes time and money and dedication of intelligent hard working people who in the meantime can't quit their day jobs.  Thus the definition of HOBBY.  It's been flogged to death-Amiga proper is no longer a mainstream player.  It is a bit player at BEST.  Linux, BSD, OSX, Windows all work better faster and cheaper on better faster cheaper hardware.  All of the Morph and AROS and OS4.1 people, not to forget Natami, minimig, etc are dedicated to breathing new life into soft/hardware that mainstream has forgotten or ignored.  So how about this-quit trashing people's choices on how to honor the Amiga legacy, enjoy the vibrant hobbyist community surrounding Amiga flavors, and STFU if someone gushes a bit about their favorite flavor being better than your favorite flavor.