What's the Deal With CommodoreUSA?

[Iggy]

Hi Chuck,
The Prop is very limited when it comes to built in memory.
But I' ve seen it connected to 512K of external memory, SD cards, etc.
 
And it can be connected to more.
 
ARM does look more difficult to work with.
 
The Prop comes in a 40 pin DIP package making it easy to mount.
 
And there are existing code examples, including LCD drivers.
 
Of course, there are other choices as well. There are plenty of MCUs other then ARM. Even Coldfire based products.

[runequester]

The last thing the next gen of Amiga computers needs is a hand-me-down OS like Linux. It also could do without hand-me-down hardware. All innovative and new, from the motherboard up! THAT'S the only way to go.

As far as OSes go, Linux is quite possibly the first (or the last?) refuge of the lazy and unimaginative.

in a world where "custom" means "i changed the wallpaper" and the response to a software crash is to buy a new machine, I'm not sure how your statement makes any lick of sense.

[Iggy]

Re - Gameduino:
 
 
I'm confused as to the specs
 
 
"video output is 400x300 pixels in 512 colors"
 
 
later
 
 
"background graphics
512x512 pixel character background"
 
Huh?
 
What's the resolution again?
 
 
BTW - Pretty neat.
 
Edit - Just found an Arduino shield to Propeller adapter. Could potentially be used to drive Gameduino.

[ChuckT]

This video shows the Gameduino on an Arduino and another Gameduino on a Maple microcontroller which is basically an ARM chip running at 72 MHZ.  The DNA is made up of 250 Sprites and you can see the difference between microcontrollers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DhYCXpEgCVs

[ChuckT]

Re - Gameduino:
Huh?
 
What's the resolution again?
 
 
BTW - Pretty neat.
 
Edit - Just found an Arduino shield to Propeller adapter. Could potentially be used to drive Gameduino.

You would have to clarify with James who hasn't been answering his mail.

[commodorejohn]

in a world where "custom" means "i changed the wallpaper" and the response to a software crash is to buy a new machine, I'm not sure how your statement makes any lick of sense.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. If you're suggesting that variety in OSes doesn't matter because people are boring and lazy and have no taste these days, I don't think that's the kind of behavior one ought to make decisions based off of...

I'm confused as to the specs
 
"video output is 400x300 pixels in 512 colors"
 
later
 
"background graphics
512x512 pixel character background"

Haven't looked into the Gameduino much myself, but given its console inspirations, I presume the 512x512 pixel background is a larger playfield out of which the 400x300 actual display is framed?

[Iggy]

This video shows the Gameduino on an Arduino and another Gameduino on a Maple microcontroller which is basically an ARM chip running at 72 MHZ. The DNA is made up of 250 Sprites and you can see the difference between microcontrollers.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DhYCXpEgCVs

 
Nice, yet another MCU to look at.
Thanks Chuck.
 
Your posts and your PMs have been really enlightening.

[runequester]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. If you're suggesting that variety in OSes doesn't matter because people are boring and lazy and have no taste these days, I don't think that's the kind of behavior one ought to make decisions based off of...
 
 

We've built entire industries around people having no taste. Why sir, you are almost downright un-american!
 
Joking aside, what I was getting at, and I do have the linux zealot hat on here for a moment, is that in a market where the two mainstream options (windows and os x) are basically locked down ecosystems with very little possibility for user input, complaining that Linux is the choice of the unimaginative and lazy seems very weird to me.
 
 
In the end though, I think there's sort of two different things at stake here.
1: What the hobby community is doing right now
2: Theoretical ideas of how to get a sort of Amiga experience that has any resemblance to the success of the 80's and 90's.
 
Im not sure those two points converge at all. Of course, maybe they don't have to.

[Darrin]

Joking aside, what I was getting at, and I do have the linux zealot hat on here for a moment, is that in a market where the two mainstream options (windows and os x) are basically locked down ecosystems with very little possibility for user input, complaining that Linux is the choice of the unimaginative and lazy seems very weird to me.

Nah, it isn't an OS for the lazy, it is an OS for the cheap.  That's why C-USA picked it, it was free!  :p

One thing that puzzles me is whether they have a legal obligation to provide support for their Linux OS in the same way that HP, Dell, etc have to support Windows.

[Digiman]

As far as emulating everything else Windows is now top of the heap IMO.

[haywirepc]

As near as I can tell, they tell people to contact mint or ubuntu with problems. Another reason they chose they, no tech support required.

[MiAmigo]

Nah, it isn't an OS for the lazy, it is an OS for the cheap.  That's why C-USA picked it, it was free!  :p

One thing that puzzles me is whether they have a legal obligation to provide support for their Linux OS in the same way that HP, Dell, etc have to support Windows.

I...would tend to agree 100% Many here go on about 'how good Linux looks' and how much you can 'tweak it' with wallpapers, screen-savers, and such. That's actually pretty shallow, like putting expensive make-up on a pig!

I'm more interested in INNOVATION, PERFORMANCE, and GROUND-BREAKING TECHNOLOGY, among a few things...

That's why I think that an ideal solution would actually provide maybe 2 or more platforms:

1. Pure Amiga Hardware and OS.
2. Amiga hardware, no OS.

That way, the Linux-havers can have their precious OS, while the rest of us can build a truly astonishing machine! :p

[Darrin]

As near as I can tell, they tell people to contact mint or ubuntu with problems. Another reason they chose they, no tech support required.

I wonder what the Mint people think..

C-USA User:  I have a problem with my Commodore OS.
Mint:  Your what?
C-USA User:  My Commodore OS.  I have a problem with it and need help.
Mint:  What's that then?
C-USA User:  You know, the OS on my new Commodore Amiga.
Mint:  Oh, you mean Workbench!  I remember that!  Just hold down CTRL and the 2 Amiga keys.
C-USA User:  I don't have any Amiga keys!
Mint:  Why not?
C-USA User:  Because I'm running it on Commodore Amiga.
Mint:  You're using a PC keyboard with an adapter?
C-USA User:  I have a PC keyboard, but I don't need an adapter because this is an Intel PC.
Mint:  That's why Workbench won't run on it you dill!  Go and buy a copy of Windows and stop bugging us!

[runequester]

1. Pure Amiga Hardware and OS.
2. Amiga hardware, no OS.
 
That way, the Linux-havers can have their precious OS, while the rest of us can build a truly astonishing machine! :p

That's kind of the thing though. Nobody is in a position to provide this on anything other than a hobby level and that doesn't seem to be changing.
 
Morph OS (the one I have the most experience with) is great... if you are coming to it with an Amiga experience in mind. It's hopeless for a mainstream computer user, for a whole host of reasons I won't go into here.

[commodorejohn]

Joking aside, what I was getting at, and I do have the linux zealot hat on here for a moment, is that in a market where the two mainstream options (windows and os x) are basically locked down ecosystems with very little possibility for user input, complaining that Linux is the choice of the unimaginative and lazy seems very weird to me.

Well, if you compare it to settling for Windows or OSX, I suppose that's true, but I don't know of anybody who does that; people who want a Windows box just buy a Windows box. Whereas Linux is basically the inevitable, omnipresent fallback OS for pretty much any 32-bit hardware project that isn't x86, which is I think where the perception comes from.

(Again, it also has to do with that class of Linux users who think that every OS secretly wants to be Linux and spend their time kibitzing around places like the Haiku forums and perpetually suggesting that it become less like the OS it intends to be like and more like the OS they think it should be. It's easy to see Linux as a sort of ominous, all-engulfing Borg project when you get stuck in a conversation with these people for too long.)
 
 

In the end though, I think there's sort of two different things at stake here.
1: What the hobby community is doing right now
2: Theoretical ideas of how to get a sort of Amiga experience that has any resemblance to the success of the 80's and 90's.
 
Im not sure those two points converge at all. Of course, maybe they don't have to.

I don't think they have to, which is where I differ from a lot of people in the community. I'm all for improving the Amiga experience, but I really don't get and don't at all agree with the notion that this is so important that it means it's worthwhile to abandon anything and everything that made the Amiga interesting in pursuit of it.

[Iggy]

That's kind of the thing though. Nobody is in a position to provide this on anything other than a hobby level and that doesn't seem to be changing.
 
Morph OS (the one I have the most experience with) is great... if you are coming to it with an Amiga experience in mind. It's hopeless for a mainstream computer user, for a whole host of reasons I won't go into here.

 
I come from a mainstream background and I have no problem with it.