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An Amiga Round-up
Mike Bouma writes "Amiga`s CEO Bill McEwen announced in a keynote speech held prior to the AmiWest 2001 show that new consumer PPC motherboards, AmigaOS 4.0 PPC and also AmigaOS for x86 will ship by November 1. Furthermore the Amiga Digital Environment which offers full binary compatibility across CPU architectures and operating systems was being demonstrated at the show running on various handheld devices. In addition, Bill stated that Merlancia Industries has acquired the rights for the Amiga Multimedia Convergence Computer which was being worked on by the Amiga team under Gateway but was cancelled. Merlancia will release new PPC hardware soon after the AmigaOne launch. Their CTO is the infamous Amiga system designer Dave Haynie who designed many critical parts of the classic Amiga 2000, 3000 and 4000 desktop computers. "
So there is a faster x86 version of UAE JIT people can use AOS3.9 on, why all the hostility? Im sure many people slagging off Amiga here has UAE already and love it, so why not bring out a better version? Also, if Amiga is so dead, then why is the CEO saying that his targets are to have 10 million Amiga enabled devices sold to consumers by the end of this year, and 30 million by end of next. As Bill said in his keynote speach at amiwest, for a company that sold 7 million max in all their previous incarnations, its not too bad. I suggest people stop getting confused between the Amiga 500 Amiga Comapny from old, and what the new 'Software Only' Amiga company are doing. Choice is good, and a good choice is better ;)
One little thing Bill did say in his speach that was a good idea of where they are going was that you can walk into a room with an amiga enabled mobile phone, and it will auto sense any other amiga devices in that room. using wireless communication, if this other amiga device is connected to the net, u can send an email there and then. Also, if u want to do something but your Amiga enabled PDA hasnt got enough raw processing power to do it, it will get the better computer near it to help out. Amiga enabled TV sends tv pictures to Amiga PDA to watch.
Not a bad thought is it. I suggest listening to the keynote speach. its mp3 audio and can be found at http://members1.chello.nl/%7Ed.vandermeer/keynote. mp3 or http://home-3.worldonline.nl/%7Eamiga/keynote.mp3
Out of curiousity, what things could you do with an Amiga in 1mb of RAM that can't be done on a modern PC running Windows 2000?
I sure can't think of anything. By comparison today the Amiga had really pathetic sound and graphics.
Yeah, it was much cooler than the PC-XT clones at the time, but come on... let's get real here.
Not really.
Next!
Interesting. I don't know, but I do far more than that on my Win2k box and I only have a PIII-600 processor.
Sometimes during large compiles and such where the CPU hits 100% I will have problems with the mp3 player(musicmatch) skipping. The solution to this is simply increase the process priority for musicmatch.
Besides, on the Amiga I had you couldn't play MP3, much less record CD-RW.
Next!
Really?
"680x0 Realtime Decoding
AmigaAMP can do realtime decoding even on slower 680x0 processors using Stephane Tavenard's highly optimized mpega.library. On a 68040-40 you can play Layer3 at half the sampling rate and with reduced quality. Full quality and sampling rate can be archieved with a 68060-50. "
DID YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS?
We were talking about the mythical 12 year old Amiga with 1 Meg of RAM.
Next time pay attention the context.
Next!
I guess I'd like to see you point that out with more venom, I really would.
Zip disks? Christ, I remember the rollout of the Amiga 1000 and the original bouncing ball demo. Later on when I was President of an Amiga Users' Group we had these fancy things called 40 Meg harddrives from Supra. Zip disks? What era did your Amiga exist in?
"Is there nothing the 12 year old Amiga with 1 meg of RAM can't do?"
Well yes, play MP3s and burn CD-R for example, not without signifigant modifications to the stock system.
The hardware just wasn't fast enough...
Next!
That's quite possible.
But again, the original poster wasn't talking about the A4000, which came stock with 2 Megs of chip ram anyway. He/She/It specifically mentioned a machine with 1 Meg of RAM.
So we're talking A500/2000/3000 model computers...
Such hostility!
Maybe you should go back and reread the thread next time before butting your nose into something you clearly have no understanding of.
Thanks!
Glad to see you are still trolling /.
2 32 25&cid=42
Please go back and reread the entire thread before responding further. You just keep making yourself look like a fool.
Here's the start of it:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=01/07/29/02
I never misquoted you, I was quoting the original author.
Sheesh what a maroon.
"While AmigaOS may not be 10 years ahead of it's time as it was in 1985, it's availability for the x86 platform is great news. [...] Criticize it all you want but you could do things with 3D animation under AmigaOS in 1mb of RAM (and no internal hard drive) that you'd still be hard pressed to do on your adverace home PC under Windows 2000. "
Perhaps reading this site will help:
http://www.rong-chang.com/
Heh. Read the website, study the language.
Get back to me when you learn how to communicate.
Granted, that was cool in it's day.
But the reason it was necessary was because you had to jump through hoops to display something at 640x400 @ 4096 colors... the best resolution possible in the glory Amiga days.
I no longer need to do that. My screen is 1280x1024 @ 16 million colors. The jpg sits nicely in the bottom corner of the screen, and I can do other things at the same time...
Like looking at another jpg!
Next!
Wonder how open the hardware will be. It'd be great to port Apple's open-source Darwin over to another PPC box.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
I missed out on the classic Amiga goodness, so I'm pretty clueless about the good points of this company. However, in three years or so of reading /., we've been inundated with announcements on upcoming new Amiga goodness which somehow never seems to materialize.
The guy may have been a smartass, but his point is worth pondering.
"The things we wizards have to put up with."--Jethro Bodine
Linux PPC which has no apps
But isn't the beauty of Open Source the fact that you can just acquire and compile any needed programs for your favorite platform? Or is that just propaganda bullshit?
If the code was written cleanly, you can do it with a simple recompile.
If the code makes assumptions about, say, the endianness of the machine or the number of bits in a word, then it will probably break.
Whether a given piece of code is cross-platform-safe or not is luck of the draw (you're hoping that the coder had enough motivation to put in the extra work to make it portable).
Hahahah. It's not total bullshit, but how many users do you honestly think know how to compile something (as easy as it may be)?
That's why the web sites of large applications offer binaries compiled for multiple platforms and linux versions.
All you'd need to do would be to convince them to make builds for pick-your-favourite-platform.
Alternatively, you could find one dedicated person to build all of the apps you want to use for the target machine, and host their own site with the packages for the masses to download.
Installation will still likely be a pain, but the user won't have to futz around compiling things.
But, more importantly, will that most advanced piece of software ever written (nay, conceived in one maniac's crazed mind) -- BLAZEMONGER -- work in this "full binary compatibility across CPU architecture"?
I'm not Dan...
but OF COURSE it will work! BLAZEMONGER works on all CPU architectures currently sold, and all CPU architechtures ever sold! If YOU can't get it working, that's your WIMPY LITTLE LUSER FAULT!
Some people say that new versions of BLAZEMONGER haven't been released in a while. What these infidels don't realize is that the last version of BLAZEMONGER was PERFECT!
Be quiet, otherwise we might have to send the boys from "Customer Relations" around again.
deus does not exist but if he does
Since all of the alternative you've mentioned are inferior to your standard PC, why do you feel the need for an alternative?
Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
Why in the heck do people insist on selling houses with kitchens? I mean, when I can _buy_ a ready cooked burger for a dollar, why should I bother learning how to make a nutritious meal? Besides, McDougals already has ever kind of burger there is, so what could a home kitchen possibly offer?? People don't want to learn how to cook, they want more burgers because they are too busy now to eat anything else.
Then them crazy old guys with 1950s Chevrolets, they are such l0Z3rz when I can buy a 2001 Hyundai that has a CD stacker and cup holders!
And that old dude who _walks_ to the store!!! What, doesn't he have a car or sumthin????
Xix.
--
"Everything is adjustable, provided you have the right tools"
Cool news, especially with Dave Haynie's name tacked on as CTO.
But, more importantly, will that most advanced piece of software ever written (nay, conceived in one maniac's crazed mind) -- BLAZEMONGER -- work in this "full binary compatibility across CPU architecture"?
Dan?
--
http://www.aikiweb.com - AikiWeb Aikido Information
Amiga Inc. announced today their schedule for announcements over the next 12 months. CEO Bill McEwen said "We're very excited about the new announcements we'll be making over the next 12 months. Previously we were only able to make one or two announcements about possible future announcements every month, but with the new technology available now, we'll be able to make maybe 5 or 6 announcements. We've already got 4 signed up for this week alone!"
When asked about the timeline for a new product, Bill replied "I can't comment on that, but check out our website for some exciting new announcements coming up soon!"
It's because Amiga is dead. It's not coming back in any form, be it virtually under Linux or otherwise. Can we please move on?
It's not dead as long as there are people still wanting to make a viable platform out of it.
I for one gave up on the Amiga a long time ago, specifically when the whole Amiga DE crap came about. I voiced my disapproval, I wrote a few e-mails, and I generally bitched and complained about how AmigaDE would not be the "real Amiga" but would rather be just some hoakie bullshit company using the Amiga name.
Then, something unheard of happened. Amiga Inc. apparently took the voices of thousands of people just like me into consideration.
What happened? Amiga OS 4.0 was to be based on the classic Amiga OS. AmigaOne "Zico" was to be based on the original Amiga hardware - as a transition platform - if you will.
They rethought their roadmap, and made way for fully retargetable hardware, not just graphics, but sound and IO. They considered what their users wanted, and they considered what they felt was necessary to build a whole new platform from something old and once loved.
If you ask me, they've made all the right decisions, and the only thing left to do is put their money where their mouth is and finally deliver upon a product.
November 1st is the day of judgement.
They've FINALLY given an official date by which they plan to have on the market their new vision of home computing. In my opinion, because they've listened to what the Amiga Community wants, they've earned my attention until at least November 1st.
I think anybody who once loved the Amiga would be well wise to give Amiga Inc. the benefit of the doubt until November 1st.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
When are we going to be able to get one of these things in a beige case for a sane price? That box will run $2000 and up. I just put together a 1GHz Athlon for about $800. Notice too that there are only two ram slots (see here) and only 1Gig of ram max. Pretty weak. I guess cool sells better than performance at a sensible price; that's why the Apple Cube sold so many millions.
I would really like to be able to put together a good, non-intel machine for doing simulations, but this doesn't seem to be it. I DO think that these things would sell like hotcakes, if they didn't cost much more than pc's, say, not more than a 10% premium for the motherboard, and all else straight pc hardware. Unfortunately, these guys seem to be trying to compete with Apple on their home turf, without the Apple OS. It worked so well for Franklin (remember the Apple][ clones?), and BEos, I'm sure it will work equally well for these guys. I wish them luck, but I'm not holding my breath.
See what I've been reading.
You're only half correct. See:
Slashdot | TRS-80 Laptops Still Plugging Along
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Cool, at least seeing Dave Haynie in the loop gives a bit more credibility. Nice to hear he's still alive and involved somehow.
--- Metamoderating abusive downgraders since my 300th post.
Ok, let's be true to ourselves. When Amiga was still alive and competing with Atari (I was Atari fan, I hated Amiga *grin*) PC's were junk compared to those two. There was WOW 4 Color graphics card and that was pretty much it, not to mention the glorious PC speaker. *grin* So if you wanted to work with graphics or sound your choice was Amiga or Atari. Period. They had just about everything better than average PC, also they were faster. Heck, they could also compete with VGA in all aspects.
;)
:)
I am personnaly glad that there is still something going on, on that scene. I'm just guessing, but all of you that bitch about Amiga being dead, must be too young to see it or something. This article is like a reminder to us all, well to us that lived in that era... *grin*
Anyway, I think that the real problem was that creators of those great platforms were mostly hackers and not bussiness men and what they were able to do is to hack and not to market. So PC overwhelmed them. Same thing now with the OS'es. Windows are so popular bcs they have good marketing (and FUD) not because they are soooo good.
So, stop whining and comparing your 1Ghz Athlon and GeForce3 to a piece of hardware that is almost 20 years old. Get a life, anyone can do good 3D stuff on that kind of platform, real hacking is doing a 3D shaded landscape on Atari XL/XE. And I saw it few weeks ago on, yes a working Atari 800 XL.
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I never wanted to go anywhere. I'm happy here...
The Sig, the sig
1. The x86 version is, for the time being, going to be an emulated version, using a Linux kernel as its basis, so AmigaOS can be cold booted, with no underlying desktop OS, like other emulators. The advantage of this is speed: apparently the few benchmarks (on a Celeron 500) made public ran up to 1118x quicker than on the fastest 68060 'Classic' Amigas, and boot time on a Celeron 500 was about seven seconds, or so it has been said. Another advantage of this approach is hardware support (by relying on Linux drivers). Another is compatibility. Also there is the short time until release. Nobody was expecting this anouncement, and until it sinks in, I expect there will be some misunderstandings.
2. x86-AmigaOS apparently will be based on 3.9, and on the same day, OS 4.0 will be released for PPC (AmigaOne hardware) - ie - the latest release. The main purpose, as far as I can tell, of the x86 release is to attract former Amig owners back into the fold, without them having to shell out on a whole new system, until they are ready to so do. It is also another step towards the hardware independence scheduled for OS5.0. AmigaOS and AmigaDE will be combined, as will platform-specific versions. Another advantage is simply revenue: for little outlay, it has the potential to boost Amiga's income substantially.
3. Other important announcements were news of AmigaDE on three Sharp devices, including a mobile phone, AmigaDE on Psion's NetBook, a possible GameBoy Advance-type machine before Christmas, other content providers deals to be announced soon, and a deal with one of the world's largest wireless carriers. Place the emphasis where you choose, but it's generally good news nonetheless. There's other stuff as well, so have a look at Amiga.org for a start.
There's no doubt other stuff I haven't mentioned, but these are just a few thoughts that have occurred to me having read the news.
Amiga itself will have material available publicly by Wednesday.
All in all, a good day for Amiga news, IMO. I shall be buying x86-AmigaOS when it is available, as an interim step towards new hardware in the future.
I heard that your library burnt down and destroyed your only two books - and one was not even coloured in yet.
But isn't the beauty of Open Source the fact that you can just acquire and compile any needed programs for your favorite platform? Or is that just propaganda bullshit?
For us Amiga fans, I believe this is called a "guru meditation".
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
While AmigaOS may not be 10 years ahead of it's time as it was in 1985, it's availability for the x86 platform is great news. The addition of another alternative os for this platform is always great news, especially a mature OS like this one. Criticize it all you want but you could do things with 3D animation under AmigaOS in 1mb of RAM (and no internal hard drive) that you'd still be hard pressed to do on your adverace home PC under Windows 2000. As for weather there will be a truly meaningful resurgence of the OS, I would expect not, however I do see a sufficient market share being available to keep the company in busines (and selling the OS on multiple platforms) for quite some time.
It's also good to see their forray into the handheld device market, however I'm honestly not sure what AmigOS's strengths have to offer here that's significantly different than that of PalmOS or Windows CE (except in the case of Windows CE that the programmers at Amiga know how to write extremely clean efficient code that beats Microsoft OS's in such areas as memory efficiency any day).
Here's to the successful migration of the AmigaOS to the PC platform. Good luck guys!
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
How long will we have to hear about the ever-imminent comeback of the Amiga. It's dead. What was a nice bit of engineering back in the 1980s is just another piece of computing history today. There is no compelling capability that the Amiga has that will make people run out and buy it. Sure, there will be a handful of Amiga die-hards that will, but you don't support a hardware and software development staff with the sales you make to a small group of hobbyists.
Give me an English translation of that. Are you trying to say that old Amiga computers from the 1980s are physically attached to 3.5 million "devices." Do you mean that they are part of embedded or special purpose systems? I'm totally baffled.
And what do you mean by "subscribers?" A subscriber is not necessarily a computer customer. I subscribe to Road Runner cable modem service. If Amiga teams up with Road Runner, I'm not going to rush out and buy and Amiga.
You've got to work on expressing yourself more clearly. I honestly could not follow what you were trying to say.
When I last had my Amiga 2000 I'd shrink boot times by two simple tricks.
First - On my AMIGA 500 - I'd make good use of the WAIT command in the boot batch file (once I put WAIT 1 second pause the single-task loader was quicker). For the AMIGA 2000, a WAIT command would stop the hard drive thrashing on loading many small files at once (which was DEAD SLOW). Waiting a second or three would speed the load times up dramatically over the try-to-load-everything-at-the-same-time approach that was default. I was able to shrink the load times to around 30 seconds that way from 1 minute + 30 seconds before.
Second - I learned a better trick. I'd push all the small loading files into a *.LHA file, copy that to a virtual RAMDISK, unzip, boot from that, then change volume to the real hard disk. I shrank the boot time to 10 seconds flat. The PC load times are using the same slow method the AMIGA used as default without the benefit of a WAIT command or the ability to switch your main boot hard drive (at least without a moronic REBOOT). God I miss the Amiga's MOUNT command and the other useful CLI tricks I learned. Windows sucks so very badly.
"Face it, a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality.
Like I said, I'm opinionated, I base this on experience I have had. Certainly your profanity would lead me to believe you are a feeb.
(Note to some people in this thread, when posting in HTML, dont forget the
please.)
Legalize the constitution. Think for yourself question authority.