What Amiga product do *YOU* would want. Please read.

[Bodie]

redrumloa wrote:


-> Our own PCI solution ~50% cheaper than current options.

This is a very good possibility.

How about resurrecting some sort of Zorro busboard expansion for the A1200. I can't seem to find any these days .

[DaNi]

a ppc faster or sharkppc with g4, support for good agp graphics cards. A new SCSI & IDE controller up to this days... new 68k too... coldfire (coldfusion project) is a good solution, new expasions for amiga cd32 for ppc/gfx cards, akiko for all amiga models... mpg2 video decoder for view on classic amigas mpg2/dvd... and of course, a lot of sofware too... =)

[Jope]

And now YOU. What would YOU like to see? We are thinking mainly hardwarewise. Would you like to see a cheaper RGB->VGA adapter? An extinct product ressurected? What? I'd really like to hear alot of opinions. This is mainly aimed at hardware, not software.

Seriously, the thang I'd like to see is:

A cpu card that sports a fast x86 CPU + fast memory controller. Perhaps also tie it to a PCI board so we can finally have quick PCI and forget all about ZorroII or III.. :-)

Ok? Now what makes it special? Have a firmware on it that emulates an 040 processor perfectly, but at great speed. :-) (the 040 is IMHO more compatible than the 060)

[machinehead]

Flicker fixers.
Ethernet boards.
32 bit Z3 ram board for 3000, 4000.
Clock crystals.
Floppy drives under $45.00
Tower kits something like the 51% airplane kits. In other words a tower with the cutouts and parts, but not assembled. (To make it less expensive)
Something like the Bodega Bay expansion for the A500, but with CPU slot and PCI perhaps (for flat Amigas).

Accelerators!!
I am sure I am forgetting something, but I'll think of it later ;-)
red, thank you for the EXCELLENT A500 on Ebay!
Dave

[xeron]

@Jope:

In theory that is completely possible. You could make a card with a standard socket for an Athlon, or P4. You'd have to have a flashrom that initialises the card, and launches a JIT 040 emulation and then sets about executing kickstart. I'm not sure you'd get your R&D money back, though, and I'd rather get a G4 to run OS4 on :-).

Oliver Day will be solving similar problems getting his coldfire card running.

[DanDude]

@hnl_dk
I added SharkPPC to my wish list.  :-D

[DanDude]

Here's a thought:

a 3D accelerator-graphics card with hardware MPEG1+2 decoder that allows AGA graphics overlay (with outline capability) for both ZorroIII Amigas and a 1200 version.  Perfect suggestion for arcade games!  Its own firmware should be allowed to upgrade to handle more complex 3D graphics.  256MB max RAM DIMM socket(s).

Everything else I would probably see on a mediator like 100Mb ethernet card, 16bit sound card and more.

 :-)

[McTrinsic]

I'm after two things.

First would mean NEW Amiga stuff ... and since the AmigaOne Sports the most standard-interfaces, this is more a problem of software.

"VINTAGE" things:
I have been after a Viper 530 / 50 MHz for some time now, without avail. It does not really fir my needs anyway, too much things on the one side (interfaces), too little on the other.

I dream about the final 68k-socket *accelerator*.

- 68030 or 68040 @ 50 MHz (maybe 68060, but I doubt that it would fit in an A500 or A1000)
- Using standard SIMMS (up to 128 or so)
- FlashROM, like the Blizzard TurboMemory board had, but it should either keep the ROM image after power-off or use the actual KickROM of the Amiga. Would save lots of money for 3.1 ROMs or would maybe even enable a 3.5 ROM?? Main advantage would be to have the KickROM accelerated!?
-68000 fallback mode with memory still enabled
-clockport (like the adaptor from Katodev was going to offer).
- an AGA option??

And of course, it should all fit into a A500 AND A1000

Thats it basically

Oh, and by the way: I am not after a PPC accelerator for the classics. I'd be rather after the coldfire accelerator... if only one was made to fit in the Sidecar!!

Thats what I am after.

Good luck,
McTrinsic

[prowler]

Personally, I have been looking at getting a PPC for my 3000 so I would like to see a resonably priced one hit the market

A decentish Zorro based sound card would be nice, to take some load off the CPU.

Keyboards for big box Amigas seem to be hard to find/expensive as well as diskdrives (basic essential things we never really think of but realise they are extremely important when they break).

[Dalamar]

Many of the items mentioned above, but I would also like to see things like new spare parts for existing systems.  Power Supplies, CPU boards, graphics boards, etc.  I want to keep my baby running in addition to adding more toys to it.

 :-)

[hnl_dk]

restore2003 wrote:
@hnl_dk:

EUR 449.95?  :-o And thats with the cheapest processor? Too expensive option, u need the mediator too  :-o

I know it is expensive ... but was it not what you wanted ;-)

[restore2003]

@hnl_dk:

Yeah, its what i wanted, but too expensive.
Therefore i want a new card to be available at a lower price  ;-)

[Kronos]

I would something (PPC,CF,x86, I don't mind) that is fast on doing 68k, fits into
an A1200 (or maybe even an A600), features a reasonable current GFX-chip
(lets say something like the stuff used on VIA's ITX-boards, nothing fancy&hot),
and still is a real Amiga. Would be prepared to pay 300-400 Euro for that, depending
on features.

PCI-Slots for my A2000 would be nice, but those would probraly only make
sense in combination with an accellarator.

[L8Knight]

>Does that include a PCI solution, or only a Zorro?

*shrug*  For me only a Zorro solution, but I don't know if a PCI solution would be better for others...  (Couldn't any 'generic' PCI based PC card meet this request then?)

[Cass]

Quiet everything that the other guys have mentioned. I'm currently looking for an SX expansion for my CD??, just to be able using it as a full computer.

That means expansions/upgrades to all the vintage AMiGAs, at a reasonable price (we always had to pay more that the average computer user, due to custom solutions... A new start may bring back even old users -as hobby, or collectors- that have put their Amigas in the closet)
________
Ascari

[takemehomegrandma]

@ redrumloa

Are you actually thinking of starting a new company to develop new hardware for the "classic" Amiga market? Wow! Are you thinking of living on this, or will it be more "a work of love"?

A bold mission nevertheless, since the few classics still not in the closet are probably dying in an increasing pase.

And just out of curiousity, who are "we"?

redrumloa wrote:

I'll start first.
-> I'd like a new PPC accelerator for classic Amigas at a reasonable price.

We are actually evaluating it, but to be completely honest it's not likely to happen. The cost of R&D would probably never get recouped, even if OS4 became a smash hit on classic boxes:-(

It could perhaps be made "the Eyetech" way; buying a batch of pre-made boards from outside the community and sell them here? Wasn't the SharkPPC (at least the first "versions") very similar to a certain Mac PCI based CPU upgrade? The software part might be a nightmare though ...

And now YOU. What would YOU like to see? We are thinking mainly hardwarewise. Would you like to see a cheaper RGB->VGA adapter? An extinct product ressurected? What? I'd really like to hear alot of opinions. This is mainly aimed at hardware, not software.

The Amiga was traditionally very strong on Video/TV production. It worked both on PAL and NTSC, and in several resolutions. The custom graphics chips could be synced from an external source, so it was very popular to use it with genlocks. The custom hardware made things very smooth and flicker free, without heavy CPU usage.

Both the BoXeR and the Commodore One uses/would use FPGA's to accomplish solutions very similar to the Amiga custom chips, with coppers, blitters, hardware sprites, etc (of course, the C-1 also has to take the C64 in account).

Both the Pegasos and the A1 hardware goes the mainstream PC/Mac way, with all standard components. That is great for a cost/price POV, but it does not make the hardware stand out.

I would like to see a new "Amiga" custom chipset. It could be made with FPGA's, fast and easy (ehrm, sort of at least). The features of the Xilinx Virtex-II Pro FPGA's looks kind of interesting IMO, as an option they can even include PPC CPU cores on the chip (up to four of them).

Forget about advanced 3D, there is no way (and no reason) to compete with the 3D chips developers. This is about powerful 2D with consumer TV's and video production in mind, with improved custom chips features. Perhaps some basic 3D functionality that can be used for 2D planes manipulation (for zooming, twisting, rotating, picture in picture, etc). It should be flexible and powerful in screen resolutions and modes (all VGA/SVGA resolutions/modes included, all TV modes, and it should go as far as HDTV), it should use 32 bit graphic (alpha channel in hardware), it should offer multiple displays, it should have a blitter, a copper, "windowing mode" (smooth HW scrolling of a small view of a much bigger screen), etc. It should offer HW antialiasing. It should offer at least one video in channel, with built in genlocking functionality.

As a start you could produce a graphic card with this chipset (or with sound too, a "media" card) in PCI/AGP. This could be used outside the Amiga world too, in PC's and Mac's for video editing/broadcast solutions. It should offer high quality video output, multiple displays, lots of connector options (including component video connectors). If the chipset has a built in CPU (like the virtex), it could run an OS internally (AROS with custom low level, hardware banging drivers in asm?) which handles everything internally "the Amiga way", independent of the OS on the main board.

This chipset could also be used in STB's and other consumer electronics/home entertainment products.

A new "Amiga" motherboard with a new custom chipset would be great too. It should be PPC of course, and it would also have PCI/AGP for expansions (and 3D cards for the ones who wants one of these).

But I'm just dreaming away here! :-D

It will be interesting to see what (if anything) may come out of your plans.