Iyonix PC

[HopperJF]

Somebody posted this on another site, so credit to "ihatewestlife2002" ;-)
I find it interesting about this new Acorn compatible machine

http://www.iyonix.com/ are releasing 2 new models of their Acorn compatible computers running Risc OS.

One has a very small case, I think its about the size of an Amiga 3000 and another has a rather stylish looking tower case! They are based on the Intel Xscale processor and can run Linux and Risc OS. These computers remind me of something its called the AmigaOne!

LOOK AT THE PRICES OF THESE 3 COMPUTERS!!! They are quite expensive especially for an Xscale processor! I suppose its because its a special market right now like the AmigaOne.

What do you think to the computers? Tell me your thoughts about them and their similarities with Amiga and if you would buy one.

Beware: They are expensive, even by A1 standards.

[bhoggett]

A very similar situation to the AmigaOne really. An interesting OS, but the price of the system required to run it makes it a total non-starter.

As it happens, I do have £1,000+ to spend on a new system soon, as it's time to upgrade from my rather tired Athlon 1400MHz system. However, with that sort of money I can buy a very neat AMD64 system, complete with expensive case, fans, PSU, top-of-the-range gfx card etc. Comparatively priced AmigaOnes or Iyonix systems look like an old Lada by comparison (to use the age-old car analogy). Even the cheaper Pegasos looks poor and expensive when taken feature for feature.

Until these unconventional systems drop the "niche" mentality and realise that they DO compete against the mainstream, whether they want to or not, they'll remain  the exclusive domain for a handful of fanatical geeks for ever.

Still, I expect that me saying this here is about as effective as talking to a tree.  :-(

[HopperJF]

@bhogget

I agree totally actually.
Acorn seem to believe that the OS is what makes the platform good, and they can get any old poor hardware and sell it at ridiculoulsy high prices, and it will sell.
The sad thing is these things probably do sell, although only to hardcore Acorn fanatics.
Like the AmigaOne indeed.

The price for a bare motherboard apparently, is £1300!! (and thats NO AGP slot, and NO PS/2!!)
Quite ridiculous.

Both Eyetech and Acorn need to get real soon.
I've said it many times, AmigaOS 4 may be exccellent and up to date, but if the hardware isn't then Joe Public won't be too interested.
Same goes for Pegasos, albeit the hardware is slightly better.

[odin]

100 UKP for Oregano2 HTML 3.2 webbrowser :-o. JFC. The prices of the software are right up there with the hardware prices.
Then again, there's also the WebsterXL browser priced at a reasonable (?) 30 UKP. However development for that thing seems to have stalled in 2002...  Perhaps they're even worse off browser wise than us?

Q.    Does the IYONIX pc support AGP?
A.    I. AGP is a faster version of PCI. However, because RISC OS is so efficient and the nVidia GeForce graphics processor is so well matched to RISC OS any speed increase would be very small indeed.

RRRrrrrrriiiiiiiight :lol:.

Q.    Is the IYONIX motherboard available for self build?
A.    The IYONIX pc motherboard is only available to overseas dealers and commercial customers. Because of new driver support for PCI cards other than those shipped Castle will not be making the IYONIX pc motherboards available for self build.

Yup, the people on this platform are a hell of a lot worse of then someone wanting a Peg or an A1 :-).

[HopperJF]

That's bad.
That's the Aoorn dead then, who on earth would pay those prices??

Edit: The fact that some people must believe all that babble they say in the Q&A section isn't even funny  :-o

[bhoggett]

@odin

Agreed. It's perverse and educational at the same time. We can look at the Acorn RISC OS scene an laugh at them and "new" systems like the IYONIX PCs, the ridiculous software prices and the contrived excuses for the silly pricing. What too many of us don't realise is that this mirrors what most people think of the "new" Amiga scene with the AmigaOne and Pegasos. We see all those posts about huge interest in the AmigaOne and Pegasos boards, but no one wants to acknowledge what the vast majority of people really think about such systems.

We'll never stop being a joke until the head-honchos of our private little Disneyland realise that exclusivity and quality are not synonymous, and that exclusivity has no intrinsic value whatsoever in this industry.

[Robert17]

How come Pegasos is cheaper than the A1 then? To me (the onlooker) The pegasos seems like better value for money... plus it uses DDR :p

[Coder]

@bhoggett

We'll never stop being a joke until the head-honchos of our private little Disneyland realise that exclusivity and quality are not synonymous, and that exclusivity has no intrinsic value whatsoever in this industry.

Yup. And while we are at it let them stop all that legal mumbo jumbo too. It's like that's what they are all about. You sue me? I will sue you! It's a damn shame we let people that are not able to run a company just do that. And I am not talking about Hyperion and Eyetech. For most people they are Amiga Inc. Right?

Coder

[bhoggett]

Robert17 wrote:
How come Pegasos is cheaper than the A1 then? To me (the onlooker) The pegasos seems like better value for money... plus it uses DDR :p

Fewer cooks. It's that simple. There are less people taking a cut of the profit, so a smaller profit margin is enough to satisfy them.

Technically, the Peg looks like a better engineered piece of it. Outside the Amiga scene, it still doesn't rate above distinctly mediocre, but it does look better (at the momemnt) than the A1, even if you don't factor in the price differential.

The trouble is neither side is all that bothered about selling you their kit because it's the best quality you can buy. They want to make you choose an OS (AOS or MOS) and then buy their kit because you simply don't have any option.

Actually we do have an option, and that is to say "No". Of course, when we are forecd to take that option, nobody wins.

[bhoggett]

@Coder

I agree about the legal stuff. It's just a pile of rubbish which has no possible positive outcome for the overall scene. This doesn't just apply to the legal actions, but to the threats and insinuations too.

The time for legal action is past, and even then it should have been channelled into constructive purposes (like saving Amithlon) rather than the destructive ones that are either happening or being threatened - where the only aim is to prevent a rival from releasing a competing product.

But I don't absolve Hyperion and Eyetech from the accusation of bad leadership of the Amiga scene. Like Genesi and Amiga Inc, their leaders are also motivated by ego, desire to control or higher profit margins to various degrees. Note I exclude "love of the Amiga" from that list, and I do so advisedly. Not one of them would put the future of the platform above their own private ambitions.

I've long advocated co-operation - not just between the Amiga platforms, but to bring those platforms into the greater fold as well - yet that is the one thing all these self proclaimed leaders absolutely do not want because they believe it would erode their own position. They'd rather see their product destroyed than give up some of their control for the sake of co-operation.

[Coder]

@bhoggett

They'd rather see their product destroyed than give up some of their control for the sake of co-operation.

Your right.

What a sad story that was about Amithlon. How could such a product could get killed? Amazing.

But mostly it is Amiga Inc. I mean look at it. You can twist, turn, flip it or whatever but it's a plain disaster. I bought into the DE piece and as a customer I want to see progress. But there is none. Everytime it's "news will come soon" but nothing comes, only such a promise again. They have their focus only on AmigaDE from now on but that was said weeks ago and nothing has evolved so far. They will not change anyway and I wonder how big the damage will become before someone plugs them out. This is not fudding from, just facts that everyone will agree on. I am not making them look bad, that's something they do better then I ever could.

Me mum could do the job better and better yet, we all would have fresh baked cookies! Free of any charge or in exchange of coupons.

Coder

[bhoggett]

@Coder

We're getting off-topic, and you really don't want to start me on the subject of Amiga Inc and AmigaDE. Amiga Inc was (is?) the perfect example of a parasite company. It had a whole bunch of executives, directors, liaison personnel and web designers, but no one actually contributing to a product. They were experts at talking and spending money, and pretty useless at everything else. While not the least enthusiastic Amiga owners of all time, they rank right up there with the most incompetent.

I agree with you completely about AmigaDE. Like you I bought it with certain expectations, not least those based on the promises Amiga Inc made as part of their sales pitch. They've not kept a single promise, or produced anything at all beyond a manual. That is their sole contribution to the whole AmigaDE thing. Let's face it: AmigaDE is DEad. It has been for years, and the stuff about Amiga Inc concentrating on it now is pure BS. There are no employees and no developers. There is no schedule, no plan, no design. I even doubt if anyone from Amiga Inc has spoken to anyone from TAO for the last year or two. Sure, there are few enthusiasts hacking at AmigaDE related projects, be they apps, games or additions to the environment, but none of that is co-ordinated or done according to a plan. It's just ad-hoc coding.

Fortunately Amiga Inc and AmigaDE don't count for anything any more. Unfortunately, the remaining parties don't want to work with each other under any circumstances, with the exception of AROS, but they don't have the resources or the vision to turn things round or provide compelling reason for the others to work with them as opposed to tolerating them as one would tolerate a very noisy but very small dog.

There you go: you did start me off after all.  :-D

Even though Amiga Inc have been removed from the picture, there is no real change to anything. This is not surprising, as Amiga Inc have been irrelevant in every way bar the noise for many years now.

[Coder]

@bhoggett

We're getting off-topic

Yup. We will leave it at this. I am sure there is some other thread coming up some time were we can go on. :-)

The problem is that it makes you really angry. You just have to get it out. I have not said it before, since I wanted to see it happen, but now I do, AmigaDE is dead. Simple. It's to late to get things back on track. There are some DE coders that do great work but Amiga is leaving them in the dark.

Amiga Inc was (is?) the perfect example of a parasite company. It had a whole bunch of executives, directors, liaison personnel and web designers, but no one actually contributing to a product. They were experts at talking and spending money, and pretty useless at everything else. While not the least enthusiastic Amiga owners of all time, they rank right up there with the most incompetent.

I could not say it better. That pretty much sums it all up.

One last thing on Genesi. I see that Bill Buck is keeping out of the forums for some time already. Smart move. Don't go around and put gasoline on the fire.

And how about KMOS. Hmm that will go way off-topic. If we have the money we should buy Amiga and finally get it to do what it should do. But I just spent my last 69 cents on a bottle of coke. :-)

Coder