Open source PPC laptop bounty

[Iggy]

Maybe its not going to be made for the masses, but I don't care about that, I think it be nice to have real PowerPC laptop, it be nice to sit outside working some program when it really hot inside.

Yes I can emulate AmigaOS4.1 on X64 laptop, but speed and lack of features, I just won't be the same, I just low the idea of a laptop.

I guess it selfish thing, but looks like there are other who also like go places. even if did just run Linux this something I like to see, I like PowerPC to have some kind of future outside of embedded, it's nice CPU to program for just like 680x0 CPU is.

Thanks.
To address those two comments, when recently has any element of the Amiga community felt itself constrained by 'realities'?
Yes, there are more powerful platforms (than either PPC or FPGA).
Further, if I wanted a cheap laptop, I've been offered some great deals on ARM based units, and I can get X64 hardware at a pretty good price.

And emulation on ARM or X64 platforms certainly has its place, but native hardware really does it for me.
Luckily recently I've had older Apple PPC hardware to use that has remain surprisingly competitive.
While I'm an advocate of the X5000, a comparison between PowerMac G5 and more recent PPC system is enlightening.

BUT, I don't have a problem with higher price, limited production system aimed at our market.
And I'm open to anything Aeon, the Power Progrees Community, or the Apollo team dream up, including a potential FPGA laptop.
After all, I already have a few hundred invested in FPGA hardware and its a better solution for me than mainstream hardware or emulation.
Then there's the 'fun' aspect of having dedicated hardware in a format it wasn't originally offered in (ie portable).

[bloodline]

Some reality check. Do you understand that Vampire is not power full enough to general desktop use? This laptop has about 500x more horsepower than Vampire.

I have a PPC laptop already. It can run Linux and an old version of MacOS (10.5).

The laptop being proposed in this thread is based on an embedded CPU, it isn't even in the same class as my multicore 64bit Arm devices which run Debian Linux, Android and even Windows 10.

Put simply, this PPC Linux laptop doesn't bring anything to the party. It doesn't even run AOS4.

It you want to dream, don't dream so small.

[Iggy]

I have a PPC laptop already. It can run Linux and an old version of MacOS (10.5).

The laptop being proposed in this thread is based on an embedded CPU, it isn't even in the same class as my multicore 64bit Arm devices which run Debian Linux, Android and even Windows 10.

Put simply, this PPC Linux laptop doesn't bring anything to the party. It doesn't even run AOS4.

It you want to dream, don't dream so small.

Actually, its a 64 bit, four core, dual threaded cpu (for eight concurrent threads), which if you compare it to current ARM cpus doesn't come off that bad.
Although it WON'T run Windows 10.
Then again, I have better hardware than an ARM platform for that.

And it could run PPC NG software (if the OS' were ported), something ARM can only do by emulating older hardware.

And I have PPC Apple laptops too. I just don't run OSX on them, as the OS isn't terribly efficient.
Come to think of it, even though I had to struggle to get it to work, I don't use OSX on more powerful PPC desktops either, I use Linux.
It allows me to use more modern video cards than OSX supports.
And the PowerBook is based on the Radeon 9800 gpu, with a single cpu core.
While the proposed laptop will run slightly faster, with eight times the concurrent threads, and modern Radeon HD graphics (which I'd definitely prefer over an integrated gpu in an ARM Soc).

Although...the ARM hardware IS cheaper.

Either way, to each his own.
Dude, I much prefer having a discussion with you based on facts and statistics.

[wawrzon]

Either way, to each his own.

sure. just it has nothing to do with any "reality check". according to what people write none behind two amigalike ppc oses has been contacted so far, to check if they would port their system.

[Iggy]

sure. just it has nothing to do with any "reality check". according to what people write none behind two amigalike ppc oses has been contacted so far, to check if they would port their system.

Actually...as I've already stated, Timothy De Groot has already made a positive statement about the fact that a port of OS4 would be considered.
And I already know at least one MorphOS developer who is interested in owning one.

Beyond that, many of the people supporting this are from the Linux community, and are more concerned with making sure that there is support there.
With more modern PPC based hardware, Linux ports may be maintained that support big endian PPC processors, benefiting the owners of Aeon and Acube hardware (as well as legacy Macs).

So your 'reality check' is purely your own reality, and there are times when I'm not sure we share the same one.

While I can interact rationally with bloodline, you don't appear to want to back up your opinion with facts.
And the fact is, there's interest in this, so its moving forward.

[tone007]

The only PPC laptop I need, and a fine piece of hardware it is!

[Iggy]

The only PPC laptop I need, and a fine piece of hardware it is!

I always liked the way those looked and rather wish they were supported by MorphOS.
I do have an iBook, not as stylish (I actually had to avoid 'pretty', so now I'm really feeling foolish), but a bit more powerful (with a 1.42 GHz G4 and R300 graphics).

Apple PPC laptops were actually pretty solid, and I'd love to see OS4 support for them, as the models that are supported under MorphOS run great.

Again, what we are proposing is slightly faster than the fastest Powerbook, with eight times the potential number of concurrent threads, and more modern graphics. As well as using a 64 bit, rather than a 32 bit, processor.

[duga]

39.02% and counting.

[TribbleSmasher]

Well, everybody can donate one buck, can't he?

[agami]

Ugh, the clam-shell iBook whilst novel for its time, was crappy even back then, due to the 800 x 600 screen. Once they went to 1024 x 768 it was usable. And I prefer the white polycarb finish.

[wawrzon]

I always liked the way those looked

it always looked like a toilet seat to me..

[Iggy]

it always looked like a toilet seat to me..

Interesting comparison...well you've ruined that for me.

In the meanwhile, I'm still waiting for an announcement that the initial 4000 euros has been turned over to Acube.