Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Source of Amiga Video Toaster Software Released

Posted by timothy on from the if-only-linux-had-a-simple-nle dept.

bender writes "About a decade after the release of of the NewTek Video Toaster for the Amiga, OpenVideoToaster is now hosting the source code of the software! The Video Toaster ushered in the age of affordable desktop video in 1991 and was used in products such as Babylon 5 and Jurassic Park."

4 of 394 comments (clear)

  1. All well and good, but by Space+cowboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the video toaster was basically written around the Amiga custom chippery, right ?

    Perhaps you could get some FPGA to do the video work, and recreate the video toaster in all its' glory, unless y'all have them lying around in the attic :-)

    OTOH, it's a nice gesture :-) Saves us all from having to buy an Octane from Ebay and register with Discreet, although to be honest, I prefer my Flame :-)

    Simon.

    --
    Physicists get Hadrons!
    1. Re:All well and good, but by downix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Using an FPGA to replace the Amiga custom chips has been discussed for ages.

      Noone's gotten it to work. The timing ends up wrong.

      Discussing with a former Amiga chipset engineer, they couldn't even migrate the core chip from the ancient fabs to newer ones because when they did, the timing got schewed, rendering the toaster worthless.

      --
      Karma Whoring for Fun and Profit.
  2. Excellent by heironymouscoward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's not about using the software today. It's about the historical record. Software - especially landmark software like this - is part of a common heritage, and should be accessible to all. I'd like to see more companies release the source code for their crown jewels when the commercial exploitation phase has ended.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
  3. I wasn't chips, it was ideas by NickFusion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Mainly, the idea that individual persons could make TV. That was a pretty revolutionary thought. It was that crazy idea and the Video Toaster/Lightwave bundle that got me into CGI, and out of Fargo North Dakota, where I was quite literally making industrial videos in a barn.

    These days I live in the Boston area, and make games for a living. I don't want to exaggerate the impact the Video Toaster had on my life, but it was pretty significant. And I'm not the only person of that vintage with such a story.

    So the real open source idea here is that technology can be fashioned to empower the individual. A somewhat quaint idea in today's multinational world, but one I'm quite fond of.

    Bravo New Tek! You made a difference. Keep it up.

    --
    What were you expecting?