The special effects were cool, but the rest of it was weak. It wasn't really trying to be a sci-fi movie; more of a metaphor for a mind-body dualist worldview. Although a more depressing version than is usual.
Amiga is not just selling software. They're selling hardware. They may or may not have proprietary software (or enhanced open software) that they're selling on top of that, but that's just icing on the cake, as it were.
Even if there are no OS improvements -- multimedia object oriented, distributed, or otherwise, this will still be a big name non-Intel box that ships with Linux. Where else can you get that?
(And personally, I'm expecting some cool software stuff too.)
Amiga has been in secret talks with Transmeta, and have decided to go with their upcoming superprocessor. And at the same time, they've made the logical switch to Linux, which already runs in native mode. (Not just x86 emulation mode.)
On the CPU side we have selected a CPU that will bring exciting new capabilities to the Amiga. I can't disclose what instruction set it uses at this time because of confidentiality agreements. I can tell you that it's very exciting and NOT an x86 architecture processor. Our plan is to disclose the CPU in several weeks at the World of Amiga and AmiWest shows. At this time I hope to disclose all of our technology choices and partners.
Transmeta's processor, of course, is able to emulate x86, but isn't x86 architecture. And if it were going to be PowerPC, there wouldn't be anything "exciting" -- that's what everyone is expecting.
I agree. It's very plausible that their prototypes were linux-based all along, and the engineers have just now convinced management that they ought to stay with that.
Xi Graphics, the makers of Accelerated X, give rave reviews to the new Matrox G400:
Double WOW! We just posted the benchmark numbers for the Matrox Millennium G400 with the 300MHz RAMDAC. It is the first card we have tested to break 50 Xmarks on the x11perf tests. In TrueColor, it racks up 40.1 Xmarks. See the Riva TNT2 below. It almost gets there, and it is a hot chip, too. At this time, XFree86 servers do not support the G400.
Technical issues aside completely, this is a really smart move. With QNX, they'd be throwing an entirely new platform (for consumers) into the market. This way, they've got something with a lot of momementum (and applications!) to start with.
A little off topic but - I've been reluctant to try quicken under wine, because I'm not sure I trust it with my finances. What are the "rough spots and missing functionality" you've come across?
Check out Caldera Thin Clients to see what they're doing with it. Making it into a thin-client/embedded OS, which seems a bit odd to me, but looks workable.
Furthermore, it's free for use with DOSEMU. Very cool.
A very small / forces you to make seperate partitions for/usr,/var,/home, etc. On a server, this is a good thing, and what you'd be doing anyway. On a client, it's often the wrong way -- there is no good reason to not just make a big/, and some solid advantages - you don't have to juggle disk space if one partition happens to fill faster than you expected.
This is slightly off topic, but: one of the install screens mentions that the kernel goes in/. This is a terrible idea - LILO needs the kernel image to be in the first 1024 cylinders due to BIOS limitations. And if your / is bigger than that (which is very easy these days) things will may work fine after the install (which probably writes the kernel early on) but someday you're going to install a new kernel, and LILO won't work. Oops.
So put your kernel images in/boot, and make that a small partition at the beginning of the drive.
Most people here seem to have no sense of humor. The part about the alien technology, and the way it's a Slot 1 device, and all the other junk in the article = funny. Not "a poorly done hoax". It's not meant to be believable. Jeesh.
Yes, DO read about the initial board of directors. Looks like pretty competent people to me, and a good international mix of people from industry and academia.
Slashdot Mirror
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And there's also a lot of film cameras with just one button.
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(And personally, I'm expecting some cool software stuff too.)
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Amiga has been in secret talks with Transmeta, and have decided to go with their upcoming superprocessor. And at the same time, they've made the logical switch to Linux, which already runs in native mode. (Not just x86 emulation mode.)
This article explains:
Transmeta's processor, of course, is able to emulate x86, but isn't x86 architecture. And if it were going to be PowerPC, there wouldn't be anything "exciting" -- that's what everyone is expecting.Remember, you read it here first....
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So that looks like your choice.
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(Sure, they could port it to QNX, but this way they're a step ahead already.)
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I'll buy one.
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also, if you do have a libretto, i highly recommend debian as by far the easiest distribution to install, given the floppy disk limitation.
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Check out Caldera Thin Clients to see what they're doing with it.
Making it into a thin-client/embedded OS, which seems a bit odd to me, but looks workable.
Furthermore, it's free for use with DOSEMU. Very cool.
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This is slightly off topic, but: one of the install screens mentions that the kernel goes in /. This is a terrible idea - LILO needs the kernel image to be in the first 1024 cylinders due to BIOS limitations. And if your / is bigger than that (which is very easy these days) things will may work fine after the install (which probably writes the kernel early on) but someday you're going to install a new kernel, and LILO won't work. Oops.
So put your kernel images in /boot, and make that a small partition at the beginning of the drive.
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Yes, DO read about the initial board of directors. Looks like pretty competent people to me, and a good international mix of people from industry and academia.
And read this while you're at it.
Do you have any specific objections, or are you mainly into unsubstantiated slurs?
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