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

[billt]

I tried posting htis earlier but didn't see it show up, so I musta hit preview and thought it was submitted...

I'd love to se a G3/G4 accelerator for my A4000T (Quikpak style) to put more life into it. Though I am going to have an AmigaOne as well. Perhaps an accelerator with a Megarray socket to share CPU module design with the AmigaOne...

A PCI bridge with an AGP slot (as well as Zorro and maybe one video slot if you want but I'd rather have PCI/AGP slots myself) that directly replaces the Zorro /ISA/Video slot riser cards in the desktop A3000/4000. One of the Mediators does this in A4000D, but not for my A3000D. :/ Then we could put the covers back on and use PCI cards without stuff sticking above the top of the machine preventing it from being closed up. And variations that fit original tower versions of A3000/4000 and something for A1200 users. I realize classics can't keep up with AGP speed, I'd just like functional use as AGP cards are more convenient to shop for and may offer more features than their PCI counterparts, such as the Radeon AllInWonder cards that include TV tuner/outputs not found on harder to find PCI Radeons.

And finally, a Buster replacement that could increase bus speeds beyond the available Buster 11 chips. A small FPGA board fitting intot he socket should be relatively easy to do, and SMT sockets can be fixed to boards currently having SMT Busters, making it possible to put the board in these machines as well as into socketed A3000 types.  We could have more performance from aging machines this way and get faster PCI card accesses via the Amiga bus as well as fom Zorro3 native cards...

All designs with firmware ugradable FPGAs (SRAM FPGA with configuration EEPROM) to allow bug fixes and other enhancements via internet download and floppy disk program to re-burn the EEPROM/FLASH type thing, rather than sending board in for upgrading that can take a long time.

[JaXanim]

This is all getting too much for me to take in! It would be really great if just a little of what's being thrown around here could really happen. But what sort of timeframe is involved?

After waiting a decade for the faintest signs of life returning to the Amiga market, I don't think I could wait much more yet again. I'm too old, I ain't gonna be around long enough.

I'm committed to my A1200T. I'd like an A1 but it's not gonna happen. I've spent too much to swap it now. So, any development involving PPC with JIT emulation of 680XX will suit me just fine. I'd like to run OS4 without having to get another mortgage to do so.

Cheers,

JaX

[downix]

Forget about advanced 3D, there is no way (and no reason) to compete with the 3D chips developers.

Au Contraire.

3D chip vendors have stopped innovating, and the quality of products is starting to show.  My now 4-year old Kyro II renders scenes that look better than my brand-new Radeon.

You can also license a core, such as the PowerVR or 3DLabs to include in such a chipset.  So you get a brand-new chipset while not the R&D effort needed to develop a 3D.

So the best of both worlds.

[DaNi]

For my the best hardware item for A1200/A4000/A3000 and others amiga computers is a motorola Coldfire... is 68k familiar and currently the speed is 220Mhz and 333Mhz (610 mips) and up to 800Mhz (1400 mips!!!!) with superscalar EMAC MMU Coldfires planned, Coldfire roolz!!! JIT? i dont know this speed emulated we dont have any power with this? bahhhhhh  

[utri007]

actually many people is wanting this they just hope it different way.

New classic amiga motherboard, it shoul be cheap (as possible), WITHOUT aga, gary, paula and others 3xPCIs should be enough.

Like amiathlon only RTG and AHI supported programs should work, only just real amiga.

Orginal Amiga ROMS would be from customers old computers.

That would be retro:::

 

[Wolfe]

I want a replacement mobo that has a decent processor - coldfire or 060 would be fine.  Audio, video, fast ide, enet, usb etc.
Also A1200 audio, video (w/ff) and rom chip slots for running classic stuff.  Auto sensing Pal/NTSC graphic switching would be nice.

Graphics that would allow on board AGA graphics to play through as if they are a tv video input source that has a scaleable window without the need for scan doubling.

Audio would be sequenced through as an incoming pass through signal.

Goal:  A new, more modernized classic Amiga mobo, small, low power and cool ofcourse.   :-D

[HopperJF]

a small cheap PPC accelerator which will fit into a desktop 1200. not everyone who wants the power wants to own a tower!!

(hey that rhymes)
 :-)

got a marketing gimmick already lol

[Crusher]

My wishlist:

1. G3/G4 and G5 cards that can be used on every Amiga model. Cpuslot-usage on those which have it ofcourse.
2. Coldfusion.
3. SCSI card for Zorro, I would like to see an upgraded FastlaneZ3 with widescsi and sdram or ddr instead of the 30pin solution just because sdram and ddr are easier to get hold on. It would be great if the card could utilize the mems too.  :-)
4. Zorro->AGP, same reason as with the mem. It´s easier and cheaper to buy an AGP card.
5. Cooling stuff, CPU-coolers (with bluelight) and so on.
6. DSP cards, mostly to use with sound and music but even to speed up the Amiga in any way possible.
7. New tower and desktop boxes, but with a similar design as the original. I think they are soooo fine.
8. Pure memory cards that can use sdram or ddr.
9. A new official Amiga mouse with a scrollwheel,  five buttons and it should be optical (i.e. no ball) that uses the joystickport like it always has been. Or maybe with a usb->joystick adapter.
10. All this should work only on Zorro i.e. no PCI solutions, isn´t that classic then I don´t know what is.

[amigakid]

I'd like to see a cheap graphics card, sound card and pci board for classic amigas, possibly a bundle.  Heck i'd like a cheap tower case, that wont be a crappy plastic thing too.  Hey how about a good flight stick for once:)

[Brian]

Well... feel the need to enter a few lines here... here's what I'd like:

1. SD/FF for the A1200/4000... prised at around 30$
2. Floppydrives DD and HD... prised at around 20 and 45$
3. Wireless mice and keyboard combo... priced at around 45$
4. Cheap 040 and 060 turbo for A1200 with SCSI and "BVision connector"... prised at around 70 and 150$
5. A cool 5.25" faceplate with Amiga logo seethrough for cool "glowire effect"... prised at a mere 10$
6. Got many more but they might seem trivial so I'll stop here for hardware.

Software up next:

1. CD/DVDBurner tool... prised at 20$
2. TCP/IP stack... WE NEED A FREEWARE OPTION!
3. "Probometer" software bundled with 5.25" faceplate with screen, buttons and stuff to show different options (selected from an easy to use gui) and change things like fanspeed and volume and what else for nicer custom towers builds... prised at around 35$

So the prises are cheap but that is what we all want right? perfectly good hardware att the lowest possible prise. :-D

[melott]

I haven't read all the entries here yet but ..
I the biggest one thing that would spark new
interest in the Classics would be the 'Cold Fusion'
(or something simular) accellerator.
 Perhaps some arangment could be
reached with Oli that would speed up the
developement and bring it to market.
I'm not sure PPC is needed for the Classics,
that would require new software, whats the point??

There are a number of items that would sell,
keyboards, optical mice, GFX cards, ect.
The key here is to bring the Amiga up to speed.
A 220mhz (or more) Clasic 68k machine could
probably be compared to about a 1.5gig mhz PC.

Its all about the 'Need for Speed'  :-D

[Trev]

An inexpensive (<$125) combination Zorro / PCI busboard for A1200 towers would be awesome. If it gets more expensive than a PC motherboard, then there's not much of a return on investment for the hobbyist user.

I'd also like to see a new A1200 tower design. Something prettier than a Power Tower, sturdier than a Micronik, and much, much, much smaller than a Mirage. The A1200 motherboard is a bit on the long side, but it should be possible. Hmmm. Something along the lines of a Power Mac G5 chassis would be cool.

A nice rackmount chassis for the A1200 would be cool as well--but this would be a pretty small market. And I guess it really wouldn't be too hard to modify an ATX chassis; however, ATX boxes are usually pretty deep, and it would be cool to have something that fits nicely in a 19" wide by 17" deep A/V rack.

Trev

[JoannaK]

Takemehomegrandma:

Unfortunately Xilinx Virtex chips costs a way more than existing GFX chips do.. So making Gfx using Virtex woudl be not only technically a lot to ask, but also economical suiside..

I don't know, IF it would be possible to use on of those as a replacement to whole machine.. afterall.. it has more CPU power than any Classix Turbo... :-D

[takemehomegrandma]

downix wrote:

Forget about advanced 3D, there is no way (and no reason) to compete with the 3D chips developers.

Au Contraire.

3D chip vendors have stopped innovating, and the quality of products is starting to show.  My now 4-year old Kyro II renders scenes that look better than my brand-new Radeon.

The 3D chip developers are aiming primarly for the gaming industry now, and they are in die hard competition. It's a space race (and their budgets are closing in to the budgets used by the former Soviet Union and USA in that race ;-)).

Surely they (both, there are only two now) have a roadmap for a couple of years ahead. But innovation is not only about technology. You have to make it profitable too, to sustain in the cut throat competition and secure future funds for development. It's a race. Business innovation has been the key here for a while IMO.

You can also license a core, such as the PowerVR or 3DLabs to include in such a chipset.  So you get a brand-new chipset while not the R&D effort needed to develop a 3D.

So the best of both worlds.

That would be the way to go! :-)

[techiebk]

I do not know if it would be possible oraffordable, but a new mobo would be nice. Something with an 060 and 4 or 5 PCI slots. I would think that this would eliminate a lot of the bottlenecks that you get with a1200 - 060 accelerator combos.

My price point would be approx. $300USD. For that price I would like to see a mobo with an 060, four PCI  slots, three DIMM slots, and basic connectors (serial, parallel, IDE).  I do not know if it would be necessaru to have all the classic vid & sound chips, perhaps a custom boot disk would allow you to go straight to a vid card.

 Anyway, that's my two cents.  

[takemehomegrandma]

JoannaK wrote:
Takemehomegrandma:

Unfortunately Xilinx Virtex chips costs a way more than existing GFX chips do.. So making Gfx using Virtex woudl be not only technically a lot to ask, but also economical suiside..

I figured that. I know that you have looked into it (and I haven't). :-)

I have no idea how these things works, but shouldn't it be possible to use these FPGA's as a small scale prototype, and then move ahead and go to a real "silicon producer" in the far east and place an order? Yes/No? AFAIK, even this IBM PPC core is available for licence for custom projects (like in the case of this Xilinx product). That would of course require a large scale production run (which in turn might require a lot of different products based on this component, and/or external partners/OEM customers), and budget far beyond a "garage company", but even a garage company can secure some VC funds if they manage to present their ideas in the right way to the right people. After all, both Microsoft and Apple started out this way (more or less in a garage)!

I don't know, IF it would be possible to use on of those as a replacement to whole machine.. afterall.. it has more CPU power than any Classix Turbo... :-D

That's a cool idea! :-)

The CPU part won't be *that* powerful, but what are custom chips for? ;-)