AmigaONE X1000 Free Shipping Offer

[eliyahu]

OK! I want to own SAM 440 not 460...just 440..and I am willing to cough up the dough to get it. The problem I have...where can I find it? I find no store that sells it and I want it to be affordable.

Any advice?

acube themselves use to have a few for sale, but these days i'd look on amibay and the AWN classifieds.

before you pull the trigger, though, if you have any 68K software you're worried about being compatible, ask here or on the other forums where NG users hang out. for example some things require a little massaging, so to speak. like creating custom screens for tools that are pre-RTG or using maestrix to get octamed soundstudio working, etc.

-- eliyahu

[spirantho]

Exactly. OS4 is not as compatible with OS3 as OS3 is - obviously If you rely on something that doesn't exist as an OS4 program, then ask an OS4 user if it works (but make sure the person answering your question has actually tried it!).
If you just want a neat little machine, though, the Sam440 is an excellent starting point... just remember its limitations and don't expect to run HD video on it - you need the much more expensive X1000 for that.

Personally, I find my Sam fits perfectly next to my A4000 - neither will replace the other, they complement each other very nicely.

[AmigaClassicRule]

OK....guys....I am doing it. I am following through and attempting to order the SAM440 667 Mhz with 512 MB of RAM from the retail store. I am asking questions about price difference between a complete system or just the motherboard and getting the stuff part by part. I want to see how it works out for me.

[ElPolloDiabl]

They should have written OS4 for old macs and that would be the end of the argument.
If you can't afford a new Amiga: $200 for OS. $100 for an old Mac. Everyone is equal.

I suppose there is a reason they didn't, but they are not letting on.

[LiveForIt]

OK....guys....I am doing it. I am following through and attempting to order the SAM440 667 Mhz with 512 MB of RAM from the retail store. I am asking questions about price difference between a complete system or just the motherboard and getting the stuff part by part. I want to see how it works out for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam440ep

Just get a complete system, less hazel.

[amigakit]

The SAM440ep is a nice little system to start out on and get a taste of AmigaOS.

AmigaOS will be moving in new direction from this year onwards in terms of the complexity of the software running on it: newer software will demand more memory, CPU power and faster graphics cards.

However as mentioned here by other posters, the difference between the SAM and the AmigaONE X1000 is vast, as you would expect, being opposite ends of the range. The 440ep has a maximum MIPS of 1334 and the X1000's Pa6t CPU delivers 8,800 MIPS.  Memory is limited on the 440ep to 512mb as opposed to 8gb on the X1000.   There is 1 PCI slot of the 440ep whereas the x1000 has 2x PCIe x16 slots, 2x PCIe x1 slots and 2x PCI slots.

[Duce]

Outside of things like HD video, for the common man, a low end SAM system is more than enough.

You find me someone rendering production grade stock on an OS4 machine and I'll eat my hat.  You find me someone doing post production on any NG Amiga system, I'll mail you $100.

You won't.  The problem with them all is the software is not there, and that doesn't matter a lick if you're using a SAM or the X1000.  Sorry, AmigaKit - it's a great machine, but it still suffers the root problems of the OS and the apps available.  Install 3 V12's in a FIAT, it's still a FIAT.  Know what you're in for before you buy.  Me, I've tried using my OS4 (and MOS) machines for sole daily usage.  I end up using my tablet more.  Your usage case may vary.

You buy an X1000 and you'll have your web browsing experience come to a crashing end every time you submit changes in a GDoc, just like it does on my SAM.  Consider it a built in feature of the leading browser.

I love my SAM, but let's not delude ourselves that additional horsepower and a $3000 pricetag for a motherboard or machine like the X1000, that it runs a whole new class of software.  It doesn't.  Sorry.

[amigakit]

@Duce

Try using the new OWB 1.23 web browser for a period of time, 512MB will not last you very long unfortunately.  If you are getting crashes on the SAM440ep, then perhaps you are running out of memory? We have both machines in our office and performed many comparison tests: the speed difference between browsing is very noticeable due to the large horse power of the PA6T over the lowly 440ep.

A good test is the MACE game, the game can be played in 1080p on the X1000 without issues, on the 440ep it cannot, which is of course, to be expected.

Then we have AMIStore project which will soon be bringing bigger and better software releases to AmigaOS,  These new titles will need more memory and more CPU power and better graphics cards.

I respect your viewpoint because you are not privy to the software developments that are happening right now.

Finally, the lack of PCI-e slots on the SAM range causes problems for the future if you want to expand.  At the moment, A-EON is sponsoring development of new PCI-e drivers.

[ElPolloDiabl]

If OS4 was available for 2nd hand Macs, you would fill up all those remaining price brackets.
Price comes up as an issue a lot. For $300 I would get an OS4 machine tomorrow.

[Duce]

Not running out of memory - the browser crashes 100% of the time when you try and do even the most miniscule of modern tasks on it, for example the saving in some of the Google cloud apps.  It's so predictable you could set your watch by it, and every time I've tried using my OS4 machine as a sole daily driver I'm always left reaching for a $90 Android tablet to do the most simple of things.  I mean, my many years old Galaxy S2 that I use as a MP3 player cuts the mustard, but a $3000 OS4 box would just crash.

Sorry, just gotta call it like it is.  I'd have the same problems with a more beefy machine, and I have tested a 460 machine putting it through the same paces and it still barfs.  Unless the highest of the high end software can make up for SW shortcomings, well...

This being said, my MOS box also gives some pretty consistent browser barfs in the same day to day tasks.

Sorry, you'll have to forgive me - but the rhetoric about how a super high end machine will do so much more than a lower end one doesn't hold true when the OS and SW base is the same just doesn't ring true, and it kept me from buying a 460 recently.

[AmigaClassicRule]

@AmigaKit

Nice try but I am not going to spend 3.3k dollars on a computer...mkaaaaayy!

@ElPolloDiabl

Of course it all comes back to price...we are the one who spending it aint we? Naturally, if AmigaOS 4.1 was like MorphOS and was available in Mac hardware and even specific one I would spend 300 bucks easy on it. So it all comes back to price.

@All

I like SAM440ep it is cute I can get all my OS 4.1 experience I ever wanted or needed and so far with the current features and software library availability I would say SAM440ep will give me all the experience I need with OS 4.1 had I spend 3.3k on X1000. I have PS3, PS4 and PC to watch HD movies so I have no worry of getting this experience on OS4.1 that badly to make me spend 3.3k for it.  

Besides from what I checked OS4.1 is not really exploiting or taking full advantage of the X1000 hardware...it does not even support dual processor...so I do not see the reason to spend 3.3k on a machine and being a monster machine if it is not going to be taking 1000000% advantage of the features of the machine.  I think SAM440ep is all I need right now..it is small...compact...more powerful than an PPC for classical Amiga anyways...cheap...for Amiga hardware and affordable.

I think X1000 is the mothership Amiga and should any future Amiga hardware be developed should be always coming close to the intermediate between SAM series and X1000 and always attempt to make it an affordable price range. There should be no need to make another mothership Amiga at all...X1000 should be the only and finalized Amiga hardware that is powerful and every new line should be weaker than X1000 but more powerful than SAM and more affordable.

The more you guys do this...the more customers can come in and purchase this....and repeat cycle until......prices of Amiga hardware becomes cheaper and cheaper and if you have the money and want to go big go X1000.

Another thing...I think we need more software library to make using Amiga hardware even more so worth it. List out what we are missing that we use daily on other PCs and make a native version for Amiga system.

For example, we have skype in Windows, Linux, Mac. Naturally we cannot have skype on Amiga since Microsoft owns the thing...but what we can do...is have our own version and native one for Amiga that give us everything that skype does on Windows, Linux, Mac.

Ooh we need a very good VMPlayer for Amiga system that allows us to run other OSes with fast frame rate...I cannot remember what else to list. But we should do is list software library use daily and need on this system and make our own version not necessary a port but our own native version and develop it...

[dammy]

I think X1000 is the mothership Amiga and should any future Amiga hardware be developed should be always coming close to the intermediate between SAM series and X1000 and always attempt to make it an affordable price range. There should be no need to make another mothership Amiga at all...X1000 should be the only and finalized Amiga hardware that is powerful and every new line should be weaker than X1000 but more powerful than SAM and more affordable.

Question is this, until OS4 is running SMP out in the wild, why bother with any multi-core CPU computer unless you are directly developing OS4 SMP for it?

[AmigaClassicRule]

Question is this, until OS4 is running SMP out in the wild, why bother with any multi-core CPU computer unless you are directly developing OS4 SMP for it?

That is an excellent question. That is why I am saying X1000 is a mothership Amiga with a software and OS not taking full exploit of the hardware's capabilities. Consumers are spending fortunes on features they cannot access or have.

There is no way you can convince me I should get an X1000, right now. That is why I am venturing in SAM440ep territory. Understandably they maybe handful of games will run slow or difficult in a low end spec with 512 MB of RAM but I do not see any game worth spending 3.3k on it either.  Of course I do have purchase MorphOS first from the list of things to do . I did do an order and I did receive an email, but I have not paid it yet. By the end of the month I will buy MorphOS for my iBook G4 . I enjoy browsing the internet in it...by the way...off topic...what is the latest version of odyssey for MorphOS?

[spirantho]

I wouldn't recommend an X1000 either for a first OS4 machine. As there's no easy way of testing it for free, the Sam 440 is an excellent way of seeing if you like it.

Question is this, until OS4 is running SMP out in the wild, why bother with any multi-core CPU computer unless you are directly developing OS4 SMP for it?

Because it's still the fastest machine out there by some margin, even in single-core mode. It's a little annoying that the X1000 has another core unused for now, but it's hardly a show-stopper.

I believe the X1000 as much as anything else was a platform for the OS devs to make SMP on - after all, it'd be rather difficult to make OS4 support two cores without any multi-core hardware to run it on!

[wawrzon]

i dont see why would anyone need an os4 system for the few games there is exclusively for it. almost everything ive heard of was either ported from or in few cases to other platform, and it will likely run better there. lets face it, buying os4 hardware is a form of charity. to be honest i dont see much reason to buy ppc hardware today, neither obscure nor popular, neither expensive nor cheap, neither old nor new, and therefore i cant seriously think even about morphos. still if i was forced to choose i wouldnt base it on a label, even if there actually was a proper label.

[Niding]

i dont see why would anyone need an os4 system for the few games there is exclusively for it. almost everything ive heard of was either ported from or in few cases to other platform, and it will likely run better there. lets face it, buying os4 hardware is a form of charity. to be honest i dont see much reason to buy ppc hardware today, neither obscure nor popular, neither expensive nor cheap, neither old nor new, and therefore i cant seriously think even about morphos. still if i was forced to choose i wouldnt base it on a label, even if there actually was a proper label.

Reasons for AOS4 system;

-Prefered OS for the person using it. For some it might be all they actually need to  get by.
-Nostalgica.
-Enjoy tinkering with different OS's

Charity? I have bought games by OS4 developers that also released Wintel versions.
I actually enjoyed their games, so I wouldnt call it charity.

People spend xxxx dollars (or whatever currency) on hobbies like;

-Classic hardware
-Old cars
-stamps
etc etc etc

As long as its fun for a person, the practicality vs value ratio doesnt HAVE to "make sense".
Its a subjective quality.