Joined: 10-Mar-2003 Posts: 1956
From: The City of Xebec's Demise
@digitaldisaster
This all sounds really good, but a couple of questions... 1) Why are you planning the ATX sized board first? Is it easier to develop it, or is it because there is a larger market for it? Personally, I'd like to see the mini-ITX formfactor first.
2) Regarding the legacy ports, would it be possible to just include header connectors for them? I'd love to see a motherboard that didn't have a built-on backplane - so that the board would be placed in any orientation (within reason) and in small enclosures, and only the necessary ports would be on show...
3) I didn't get here in time to join in the naming of the project, but I reckon something like "AmiG5" would look quite good, especially if a graphics-oriented person could juggle the 5 to look like an A...
4) Paypal - ugh! As per one of the earlier posts, I don't have any online-payment accounts (paypal, nochex, etc.) as after reading the T&Cs, I wasn't very happy with the charges they apply, and the clauses involved. How about a personal cheque? Or a big bottle of spirits?
Anyhow, I'd love to see this project become a reality - for what it's worth, I'd argue against including any legacy ports (unless perhaps as header pins only) and against having an AGP slot. Isn't this pretty much what Macintosh did a few years ago - moved everyone onto USB in one fell swoop? We need to be brave in order to change the future...