Yeah, it's always this "is yet to be used", "might", "future", yada, yada. Anyone knowing Hyperion, should really know by now that they love to sell unhatched chickens with great promises, long before the chickens are hatched. Sometimes it turns out in the end that the eggs never was laid, and never will be. Was the Micro A1 GX ever sorted out/fully supported?
Will you *never* learn I ask myself?
original A1 board was supported including Altivec, only some problems with really defective USB I believe, but PCI cards with USB got full support. SAM 440 is fully supported by now (incl. FPGA) and only sadly SAM 460 support is lacking now. Yes, USB 2.0 took ages and didn`t give real fast results, it even took time to reach stability with update 4.
There are lot of things to be angry for (e.g. SAM 460 still having beta SATA, sound and RadeonHD with no 3D) but its also clear to see AmigaOS got more development, team leader, beta testing, website, forum etc. in last two years then ever before.
If there would be no SMP and 3D as well as other optimizations and drivers expected out of AmigaOS 4.2, there would be no need for X1000 at all. Single core G4 or AMCC 460 would be enough. I understand the frustration of releasing hardware first and then finalizing the drivers later, agreed I like the MorphOS approach of testing hardware and developing drivers first and then making public appearance. But there are no doubts X1000 (and SAM 460) drivers will be developed in time, assumingly with some driver release for OS 4.1 users and with initial OS 4.2
If there were no PCI-E PPC Amigas like SAM 460 and X1000 RadeonHD driver would not make much sense. MOS team builds only MorphOS and yet is late with MorphOS 3, while Hyperion does support and bugfixing of current AmigaOS 4.1, development of new features of OS 4.2 and Timberwolf simultaneously. Would love to see them throwing
All in one, nevermind the price, X1000 is attractive hardware for PPC Linux and AROS and should really drive AmigaOS 4 forward. Should be hardware viable for some MorphOS 3.x update - who has money to buy X1000 might have interest in paying 100 euros for "AmigaOS done well" IF it would fully support X1000 hardware. There is a place for MOS team to compete, and I am sure Trevor would donate a board for developers.
Any set dates for MorphOS 3? (none for OS 4.2)
So instead of attacking its price / performance side, use it to your best interest.
Surely there will be some solution for SMP in both MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.x. It might make 68k compatibility go away, but since such hardware as SAM 460, MacMini or X1000 should run 68k software well with JIT - that could not be a shame, but way forward. Before X1000 there was no need to consider it at all.