There are a couple semi-feasible ways to increase the user base, but it's probably not what people here are looking for.

The main way, to me, would be if a manufacturer produced an ASIC of the A500/A1200 w/AGA (ideally with better specs) and sold it as an 'Amiga in a joystick/console' + possible mobile device. It'd have to be rather inexpensive ($50), but it could be sold in mass retailers and reach several hundred thousand in sales, at least potentially -- going off of old C-64/Joystick numbers, anyway. I could see it at least selling 10K+.

Then create an app store for said device, and there is plenty of old Amiga games/software available there.

Get AROS working on the device, plus get AROS working on other devices (Pi, ARM Tablets, etc).

Eventually, if it makes sense in the market, move over completely to ARM, make an OUYA type of system, get at least a niche market going.

Last edited by Nameless on 26-Feb-2013 at 07:45 PM.
Last edited by Nameless on 26-Feb-2013 at 07:45 PM.

@AmigaBlitter

Find a way to get or make a lot more money to speed up software development.

Power/PowerPC + fast micro kernel OS => Fans of green computing.

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Rock lobster bit me. My Workbench has always preferences. X1000 + AmigaOS4.1 FE
"Anyone can build a fast CPU. The trick is to build a fast system." -Seymour Cray

@olegil

Thank you for the summary. You have a good processors/bus/cards knowledge.

It is up to a-eon/a-cube to make the best choice in order to create an affordable hardware that meets the user base requirments.

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retired

@AmigaBlitter

Quote:

What your proposal or idea to increase the current userbase?

As i said various times: AmigaOS for mobile/tablets (with custom PowerPC hardware instead of Arm).And make something like Ubuntu mobile: you can connect the mobile to a dock and with a monitor, keyboard and mouse and you have the full desktop version of the OS. That was my Dream of AmigaOS on phones and it seems that will be canonical who will make my dream true instead of hyperion Even if this hipotetical Amiga phone would be a complete fiasco sure it would sell more than 1000 times more units that all Amigaones, Pegasos and efikas. The mobile market is like the computer market of the 80's there is room for multiple operating system and arquitectures but this market is slowly evolving into a era like the mid 90's era of the computers so every day that passes AmigaOS on mobiles are loosing the wagon... So hurry up hyperion you still have the opportunity to be mobile and be successful

Last edited by Fransexy on 26-Feb-2013 at 08:44 PM.

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No PowerPC, No Fun
Make Amiga Great Again

Quote:

What your proposal or idea to increase the current userbase?

x86

_________________
This fire is burnin' and it's out of control
It's not a problem you can stop, It's rock n' roll - GN'F'N'R

@AmigaBlitter

8. Make completely unusual deisgns. Shapes, colors, lights, etc. Both retro, modern, and just plain crazy.

9. Keep making Keyboards and Mice that are BoingBall themed. Make more designs of them. We need not keep using the silly Win Key and the Command Key.

10. Add support for printing. Even if it is that Common Unix Printing Service or whatever.

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BoingBlogs Wiki (under construction)

AmigaOS = MorphOS = AROS = RISC OS

@AmigaBlitter

11. Point for new implementations on any hardware mainly on AROS since other solutions are closed source and will require lot of diplomacy/money/core business review to make it even start;

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Scarabocchi Binari - Italian AROS Blog
Binary Doodles - English language AROS Blog

Amiga is a thing of the past.
As a hardware implementation, as a software architecture, as a overall concept and design.

True lovers of vintage cars don't struggle to make them mainstream again: they keep their own well tuned and in mint condition, and appreciate when a new car inherits some idea from them.

Sometime, someone may create a replica of them, just for the sake of reliving those glorious old designs, and of course no one expect the replica of a vintage car to perform like a modern one.

@AmigaBlitter

Quote:

This mean that there a re a lot of classic Amiga users, around. Maybe something could be done to bring those to next gen hardware. WHat do you think about?

We have some issues here. Our next gen hardware is behind for 2013 technology-wise and overpriced for 2013.

Nostalgia hobby classic users would want an inexpensive hardware entry point. Given the architecture we are tied to inexpensive hardware is not easily had.

The best way to improve the overall user base would be for AOS and MOS to be abandoned with all efforts going to AROS. But thats not going to happen either.

Last edited by fairlanefastback on 27-Feb-2013 at 12:26 AM.

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Pegasos2 G3 running AOS 4.1 and MorphOS 2.0
Amikit user, tinkering with Icaros VM (AROS)
EFIKA owner
Amiga 1200

@number6

Good summary. I have a great idea - just tell Apple, who is making something like 3 BILLION dollars yearly on their software for IPods and iPhones, that AOS is an Apple APP and have them fund it. don;t mention that it doesn't work on their hardware and requires special hardware, or that it has nothing to do with Apple at all.
Surely they wouldn't miss a few hundred million dollars towards such a worthy cause?



Scott

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AmigaOne uA1-c 512M RAM - Only Amiga Makes It Possible!
Check my blog AmigaOne Computing

@resle

"True lovers of vintage cars don't struggle to make them mainstream again:"

I'm glad that no-one is trying to do that with Amiga either.

But retro is not for me. Not with cars and not with computers.
(I do not like New VW Beetle either ... had the old one)

I like using AOS4 instead Windows, OSX or linux. It's in many ways superior against those others, for my needs, that is.

(same with my Toyota vs Ford etc...)

AOS has had always evolution. It has gained more features and learned new tricks continuously. That's the Amiga way.

It might require struggling to add some nice new think to the old AOS, but in some cases it's worth it, to be able to enjoy the old + new in same package.

(it's not "making them mainstream", it's building new/modern features to AOS, in Amiga way, with Amiga flavour, the better way)

@resle

Are you against AOS improvements beyond Classic AOS3?

Last edited by KimmoK on 27-Feb-2013 at 07:28 AM.
Last edited by KimmoK on 27-Feb-2013 at 07:25 AM.
Last edited by KimmoK on 27-Feb-2013 at 07:23 AM.

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- KimmoK
// For freedom, for honor, for AMIGA
//
// Thing that I should find more time for: CC64 - 64bit Community Computer?

@Kremlar, Seiya etc.

With dropping PPC or going x86 I understand that you and others mean "off the self x86 motherboard", right?

Because otherwise the HW cost would be higher than with PPC. (and ARM is not yet an option)



but.:
-CPU architecture is irrelevant, yes (I like PPC, but anyway)
-selected CPU features affects the cost of custom motherboard, x86 has been the most expensive because of the lack of good SoC (also x86 CPU cost a lot more than RISC SoC)
-HW price is relevant. CPU instruction set has no effect in price (any RISC is as cheap as any CISC).
-migrating to another CPU architecture will cost a lot and will take a lot of time, BEFORE that would be done, we should be 100% sure of the materialising advantages. (I believe there is none)

Last edited by KimmoK on 27-Feb-2013 at 07:22 AM.
Last edited by KimmoK on 27-Feb-2013 at 07:21 AM.

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- KimmoK
// For freedom, for honor, for AMIGA
//
// Thing that I should find more time for: CC64 - 64bit Community Computer?

@KimmoK

Quote:

-selected CPU features affects the cost of custom motherboard, x86 has been the most expensive because of the lack of good SoC (also x86 CPU cost a lot more than RISC SoC)

AMD Temash and Kabini are SoCs, Intel's Clover Trail and future Atoms also. Haswell will also bring alot of the motherboard functionality onto the CPU die... So yes, x86 SoCs will be plenty around...

Quote:

-migrating to another CPU architecture will cost a lot and will take a lot of time, BEFORE that would be done, we should be 100% sure of the materialising advantages. (I believe there is none)

x86_64 is faster and cheaper than PPC. Also, it has a certain future, unlike PPC, where Freescale may even go bankrupt since they're in a pretty bad shape and are loosing market share.


ARM is very cheap, is also getting plenty fast(A15). A very rich market of SoCs is available.

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@AmigaBlitter

Actually, I don't think we should wait for a-eon/acube to make a decision. If we as a community want less features onboard for less money, let's just go out and DEMAND it.

Tell those who make hardware that for next generation WE DO NOT WANT A LOT OF COST-INCREASING GIZMOs ON THE BOARDS, WE WANT TO AFFORD THEM AND BE ABLE TO USE EXISTING PCI(e) CARDS WHICH ARE ALREADY SUPPORTED BY THE OS!

Thank you.

_________________
This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.

@WolfToTheMoon

Edit: seems I haven't been paying attention to ARM again, now they have quad A15 up in the ~2GHz range, putting it about on par with the QorIQ chips (but possibly a little ahead, considering it has NEON).

Last edited by olegil on 27-Feb-2013 at 08:07 AM.

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This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.

@olegil

It is plenty fast for AmigaOS. If Windows 8 RT can run on Tegra 3, why not AmigaOS. Tegra 4 is even faster.

In theory, PPC is not significantly more expansive, but in real life it is - it's because you only support a very small market, hence boards get expansive because they're produced in small batches.

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@olegil

To those who yell for ARM:
Custom or off-the-shelf products? Which machine are you wanting to run Amiga-on-ARM on?

_________________
This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.

@WolfToTheMoon

Yeah, realized I was wrong before you even hit Submit

Sure, ARM is possible but where are the boards? I don't see [AM][R]*OS[4]* running on a Samsung Galaxy no matter how much you cry for it... And the Raspberry Pi might be cheap, but an X1000 replacement it is not.

_________________
This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.

The way I see it, the Amiga as a 'hardware AND software' platform is long dead, unless you're into retro and you play with the original machines (E-UAE is dreadful, and doesn't give the same experience).

So, why not give the massive x86 user base the chance to, at the very least, play with the Amiga's only remaining strong asset; the damn operating system.

I cannot see the business logic (it's actually bordering on lunacy) of Hyperion tying their strongest asset to an archaic, out-of-date, slow and ludicrously expensive bespoke board. Think about it, it's complete madness.

Even the curious tinkerer's of the x86 world, with their Macs and PCs, who would buy the OS just to "see what it's like" would surely out-purchase the entire future sales of a PPC-only version of the OS, in a single month! There will be THAT many of them.

That's assuming Hyperion's business plan is to actually make money, and not just be a charity to allow small board manufacturers to produce their wares at our expense so they can make a couple of thousand pounds/dollars/euros.

PS. Please don't give me the 'use AROS' line either. AmigaOS 4.1 is actually a great system, I love it, and AROS isn't anywhere near to touching it. OS4.1 just needs a chance to flourish, and IMHO Hyperion are stunting it's growth with their current plan

_________________
This fire is burnin' and it's out of control
It's not a problem you can stop, It's rock n' roll - GN'F'N'R

@Slash

Now do that again, trying your best to not use any words that step on anyones toes. THEN you approach Hyperion with your business plan. Then we might get there. But as long as any discussion regarding ARM/x86/PPC is ALWAYS hostile and full of toe-stepping, it doesn't seem to happen.

Besides, the problem still remains, we need to make AOS4 better, and this requires TIME as well as money. I honestly think our best way forward is to set up a cloning station, so we get enough Frieden brothers. And throw Hans and Lyle in there as well. It won't hurt a bit, I "promise"

Besides, I'm not entirely certain I believe that more people would buy AOS4-x86/arm/whatever than would currently download AROS for free. AROS is sort of the market simulation test-bed for AOS on x86/arm/whatever

Last edited by olegil on 27-Feb-2013 at 08:41 AM.

_________________
This weeks pet peeve:
Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.