Phase 5 Digital Products comeback?

[Iggy]

It looks promising. :knuddel:

Well, the 'product list' promises a lot anyway.

"Products

Cyberstorm PPC 604e
Cyberstorm MK3 68060
Cyberstorm MK2 68060
Cyberstorm MK1 68060
Cybervision PPC Permedia 2...
Blizzard 2604e PPC
Blizzard 2060 68060
Blizzard 2040 68040
Blizzard PPC 603e+
Blizzard 1260 68060
Blizzard 1260 II
Blizzard 1240
Blizzard 1240 II
Blizzard 1230
Blizzard 1230 II
Blizzard 1230 III
Blizzard 1230 IV
Blizzard 1220
Blizzard 1200/4/8
Blizzard SCSI Kit
BVision PPC Permedia 2
CyberVision 64 3D
CyberVision 64 Z3
Fastlane Z3
R2 GO MVP TMS320 Z3
G-Rex PCI 3000/4000
G-Rex PCI 4000T
G-Rex PCI 1200"



Hmm, seems to cover real Phase5 hardware, while the facebook page mentions schematics.
If they don't have the original board layouts, schematics won't provide them a lot of clues as to how to build these.

[slaapliedje]

Is this thread why I am seeing a bunch of Cyberstorms showing up on eBay?  Would be awesome if they can build some new ones.  I also can't help but think that someone started this up as a money grab, since the vampire seems to be doing fairly well.

[Heiroglyph]

It makes sense if someone can actually build them at reasonable prices.

The only reason their old cards go for $1000+ is scarcity.

We're still buying 030's just because they are available for purchase.

They don't strictly have to source enough 060s because even bare cards that can use your own 040 or 060 would still be huge sellers.

There are a ton of crippled A3640 systems out there that would get a big boost from the RAM and SCSI, not to mention the potential to use a GRex and maybe PPC.

I wish them all the luck in the world. If they ever come to market I'll be very interested in what they have to offer and at what price.

[midway]

A bunch ? none here !

[kreciu]

One thing is clear. Without leadership and goal in development of AmigaOS, software and hardware for it NOTHING will "change". There is no particular goal in sight, there is only whole bunch of old Amiga users tweaking old systems with some sort of nostalgia that makes them do it.

Nothing wrong about it, but I'm quite sure many of you would like to see AmigaOS/hardware to develop into something more that just a hobby... but at the same time when new would come all this "classic" would be totally obsolete and it would end up the same as any 486DX or Mac Classic... in some way it is actually GOOD we don't have new hardware and software.

There are some hobby solutions like Vampire, ACA etc. and it is great for sure, but why PPC for classic Amiga's if there are (??) motherboards from AmigaOS 4.1 (much FASTER) and Classic can run FAST on PC?

It is like walking in circle or running after your own tail. Faster is better? Faster will not brining ANY new quality into Amiga environment, faster is actually available for Amiga for a loooong time.

[yssing]

One thing is clear. Without leadership and goal in development of AmigaOS, software and hardware for it NOTHING will "change". There is no particular goal in sight, there is only whole bunch of old Amiga users tweaking old systems with some sort of nostalgia that makes them do it.
.

What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?

[Heiroglyph]

What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?

Working on a platform I have no emotional attachment to.

The PPC systems are neither current nor retro, so there's not much interest from people like myself.

To me it's much more interesting to tweak old systems with some sort of nostalgia.

For those who want a PPC system, more power to them, I just wish that the people with the license to the OS cared about the same market I do, which is 68k.

[kreciu]

Working on a platform I have no emotional attachment to.

The PPC systems are neither current nor retro, so there's not much interest from people like myself.
To me it's much more interesting to tweak old systems with some sort of nostalgia.

For those who want a PPC system, more power to them, I just wish that the people with the license to the OS cared about the same market I do, which is 68k.

I don't mind if it is 68k, PPC or... i486 . IMO problem (I expressed this once of twice ) is not a lack of hardware. There is like few billion PC that can run AmigaOS3.1 and/or with 1000+ MIPS and... who cares?

Speed will not bring quality software. I tried AmigaOS4.1 on my PC and... I turned it on last time about 6 months ago. There is nothing I can do using AmigaOS. OK. I could post on this forum .

I have installed UAE (both versions) on PC and... basically there is no software I would/could use today, also system is WAAAAAAAY outdated.

Investing time and money to "develop" super outdated PPC motherboards that can run AmigaOS4.1 is IMO waste of money and there is NOTHING "special and Amiga like" in this new motherboards.

At this point of time we need... web browser, office package (must be compatible with MS Office). THEN we can start actually working on AmigaOS and even replace it in case of SOME of us, that don't need specific software.


At this point we need system and software that in some way will introduce something NEW and interesting to "market". If not my super old A1200 will be fine...

Considering that today people are sick and tired of MS collecting data from their keyboards... Linux "sucks" etc. and MacOS is good for "...". AmigaOS could be viable option.

Focus on development of AmigaOS and software, what hardware it will run? It will be a problem of future.

[Iggy]

@kreciu
I'm not sure what that comment had  to do with Phase5.

@Heiroglyph
Obviously a Phase5 PPC board would be retro, and if you (and 'people like you') don't want to move to something better, hey, good luck with that.
But that was the direction things evolved in.

Personally, IF these guys really have the talent to pull this off, eventually I'd like to see a better PPC board with something like a 1.4 GHz cpu.
It would require a lot of rework of the software though.
I'm not sure they are up to it.

As to software, learn to code.

[zylesea]

What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?

Well, at least Hyperion are hibernating. They are definitely no option for a successful future. OS4 is pretty much a walking dead and the momentum came back to 68k recently.

[Iggy]

Well, at least Hyperion are hibernating. They are definitely no option for a successful future. OS4 is pretty much a walking dead and the momentum came back to 68k recently.

Well, there have been developments on the OS4 front.
OpenGL ES support and Warp 3D Nova are pretty impressive.
Add this to the support for Radeon HD video cards and OS4 appears to have leapfrogged MorphOS in terms of video support.

However, all this development has occurred outside of Hyperion.

And everyone is waiting for Hyperion to finish ports to the X5000 and A1222.

This situation is a little foreboding.

[Heiroglyph]

@kreciu
Obviously a Phase5 PPC board would be retro, and if you (and 'people like you') don't want to move to something better, hey, good luck with that.
But that was the direction things evolved in.

Personally, IF these guys really have the talent to pull this off, eventually I'd like to see a better PPC board with something like a 1.4 GHz cpu.
It would require a lot of rework of the software though.
I'm not sure they are up to it.

You misunderstood. My comment was in reply to "What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?". Those companies aren't doing anything I'm interested in.

I think a new production of even the original PPC boards would be great since many people never had access to them and they make great additions to Classic systems.

Better is a relative term. Lately I don't even really use my 2GHz MorphOS machine I picked up for next to nothing. It's technically better in every way compared to my A2000 and A4000, but it gathers dust while my A2000 gets daily use just because it's fun to me.

Each to their own, that was just my answer to "What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?".

[Iggy]

You misunderstood. My comment was in reply to "What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?". Those companies aren't doing anything I'm interested in.

I think a new production of even the original PPC boards would be great since many people never had access to them and they make great additions to Classic systems.

Better is a relative term. Lately I don't even really use my 2GHz MorphOS machine I picked up for next to nothing. It's technically better in every way compared to my A2000 and A4000, but it gathers dust while my A2000 gets daily use just because it's fun to me.

Each to their own, that was just my answer to "What do you think A-Eon and Hyperion is doing?".

Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Yeah, I'd agree that Hyperion appears to be doing almost nothing right now.
And while I'd like to buy an X5000, that was pretty much ready to go a while ago..
Further, you are right about NG software, there isn't a lot to use.

But A-eon appears to be trying to remedy things.

You know, instead of a new A1200 from Jens, I'd rather have a PCIe X1 plug in Amiga card for the AmigaOne or G5 PCIe Mac. Then we could really incorporate legacy software into the NG base.

[Heiroglyph]

Sorry for the misunderstanding.
You know, instead of a new A1200 from Jens, I'd rather have a PCIe X1 plug in Amiga card for the AmigaOne or G5 PCIe Mac. Then we could really incorporate legacy software into the NG base.

The problems there are cost, availability of chips or replacement FPGA cores and software support.

At that point a software emulation starts to look more viable and has no hardware cost attached and it really makes the decision harder to justify, especially for a commercial application.

With something like what P5 are hopefully proposing I really don't see a downside. It seems like a good small business venture.

There is clearly a market for the cards at any remotely sane price.

They are proven in the field. (assuming a decent run of cards)

And the market was never saturated with them, so there is demand.

The only remotely viable rival is the Vampire and those are not made for most desirable systems, the A1200 and A4000. Plus production on the v600 and v500 hasn't ramped up to meet demand yet.

I'm not saying the guy can pull it off, but I'm amazed someone hasn't revived and revised these cards already. It makes too much sense.

[kolla]

Can I have stand alone boards, please? With lots of RAM. Preferably rack mountable

Where on earth will they source 060 chips from?

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Where on earth will they source 060 chips from?

China?

:laughing: