Great stuff

I see a few posts complaining about the specs in comparison to the A1, Micro and various other machines.
I suppose it's all relative.

Seems pointless comparing to Wintel/Mac machines.
They are built with their OS in mind.

Sam seems to be roughly in the same bracket as the other AmigaOnes.
The OS is designed with them in mind, so surely the specs are sufficient.
Are we really saying we have reached the limit of what they can do?
I somehow doubt it as I been running OS4 classic since it's release on a BPPC 166mhz.
That is underpowered compared to the A1s and yet OS4 is still a dream to use.

So maybe the Sam boards are not an upgrade to exising A1s but so what?
It will be an upgrade to BPPC and CPPC users.
It will be an upgrade to the people who don't have PPC of any description.

What's important is here is a big chance to increase the userbase and interest in Amiga for the first time in a number of years.

That can only help for more development of software and hardware in the future.

I have two gripes only.

1) They announced it this far in advance of the release so I am now being tortured by the wait, like a kid at Xmas.
2) They didn't give us more notice to get the money together.

(I can be unreasonable, illogical insane like the best of them.)

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Quote:

IMHO what makes anyone think they can be successful in a saturated x86 market when millions has been spent, and were still not happy with the outcome. It's not cause we can't afford it, it's causes it un-attainable.

Ah, no... the remaining companies involved in this market need to decide if they are focusing on hardware or software. Most of us are delighted that the Sam440 is available but it doesn't offer any compelling reasons to support a proprietary hardware platform.

Those that advocate an x86-based solution have never maintained that supporting the architecture offers a means of competing with Windows and MacOS or denying opportunities for companies like Hyperion and ACube. As Linux and MacOS have made obvious, people want inexpensive, capable hardware that gives them options to run their software. What's inside the box is irrelevant.

Instead of turning this into an emotional argument and chastising the detractors, people need to value the feedback that has been expressed by prospective buyers. It's not the consumers responsibility to conduct market research and create business proposals.

Thanks Hyperion, Thanks Acube Systems Italy ! Amiga(440EP) returns the imagination ! Amiga is back !!!!

@TiredofLife who sayz things like:

>So maybe the Sam boards are not an upgrade to exising A1s but so what?
>It will be an upgrade to BPPC and CPPC users.
>It will be an upgrade to the people who don't have PPC of any description.

Arghh matey, that's the pool I postulate the first thousand users will come from!

Another thousand Amigans sucking on OS4Depot for drips and dribbles like
back in the day when the Fish and AmiNet were the world.

Another thousand Amigans contributing to shareware coffers and luring
MOS ports, linux ports and old projects out of closets and off hard drives.

Who knows what will shake out of that tree?

>What's important is here is a big chance to increase the userbase
>and interest in Amiga for the first time in a number of years.
>That can only help for more development of software and hardware
>in the future.

At a minimum there are 250 ex-Amigans, 250 geeks, 250 trendsetters
and maybe another 500 ex-users or wannabe's that will end up getting
a "starter" model like the flex if the price is right, or it's XMas, or there
is a long winter.

If you throw in a couple of bundled packages or add a few offbeat apps
to the repetoire, you're on your way to 2500 plus new users of OS4.

Now, for next year, if you can get a multicore model out there that will
start throwing the ported open source apps around and have a cheaper
mass produced A500/A1200 with an added FPGA or another geek part
of added value and an SDK free to all... I leave that to your imagination.

But I believe that our first new ten thousand will be achieved because
of that type of scenario, fresh hardware - many minds being engaged
- individual efforts - and plain old enthusiasm.

You can make your own list from what is currently available and what
has recently come out of the clear blue sky from nowhere.

>I have two gripes only.

Thanks for a short list.

>1) They announced it this far in advance of the release so I am
>now being tortured by the wait, like a kid at Xmas.

I'm thinking of waiting around since '94.

>2) They didn't give us more notice to get the money together.

I'm still thinking of around '94

>(I can be unreasonable, illogical insane like the best of them.)

No argument there, good going, a lot happier type of illogic and
inanity, a close cousin to insanity, than what we have been
enduring during the course of this discussion.

@ne_one

Those that advocate porting to x86 haven't got a clue as to the resources required to do that. Rogue stated elsewhere (can't remember exactly) that it's out of the question for now because it's just too big a task for the current resources available.

PowerPC motherboards are no more or less proprietary than x86 ones, they're just nowhere near as common.

Hans

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What's inside the box is (AIR)... and again IMHO = Extremely under priced.

http://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/goldilocks_story.htm

Quote:

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MiniMig FPGA, Sam440 Flex 733Mhz PPC, Amiga OS 4.1 Update 2, MorphOS 2.4, Other - AmiKit + Cloanto Amiga Forever 2008 + E-UAE, AmigaSYS

Thanks ACube and Hyperion, for bringing us the new amiga. there is one way to go now and that is forward. i see people is concerned about the price, i see no wrong with it, its the right price for now. the amiga future is bright and thats good looking forward to more goodies from ACube and Hyperion

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Quote:

They announced it this far in advance of the release so I am now being tortured by the wait, like a kid at Xmas.

Actually, it won't be that long. The work is already quite far advanced. We even have an install CD. The term "near final" in the press release isn't exaggerating, it just needs a bit more testing to iron out any quirks still left in it.

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@Rogue

Quote:

I won't make money with it (especially if you hear me sing). So... what use is it?

Well, neither could Janis Joplin, but she made some kind of a living from it. Or Britney Spears, the Seldomly Singing Singer, for that matter. So, your point being?

OldFart

Last edited by OldFart on 20-Sep-2008 at 09:58 PM.

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Time is a waste of life.
Get wasted all the time
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@Rogue

Any indication as to how long before the 4.1 NDK is released? I remember a post some time ago, mentioning that there is now someone whose job is to maintain that...

Quote:

I recently bought Eee 900, a brand new laptop with Celeron M 900 mhz.

To keep it into perspective, this Celeron M ULV 353@900Mhz is based on Intel's Dothan architecture. Like Intel Core 2 mobile line (e.g. Merom, Penryn), Dothan core is part of "P6" microarchitecture.

Banias and Dothan cores adds (to the "P6" microarchitecture);
1. dedicated register stack management.
2. global history to branch prediction table.
3. micro-ops fusion for certain instructions.
4. Larger L2 cache.
5. SSE2 support.
6. 400 MT/s FSB.

It's integer performance still rivals AMD's K8 Athlon 64.

Yonah architecture is basically a dual core variant of the Dothan with minor improvements to SIMD.

Intel Pentium IV (NetBurst) and Atom product lines are not part of "P6" microarchitecture.

In PowerPC sense, it’s like modernising PowerPC G3 with PowerPC 970 (long pipeline design) improvements e.g. instruction fusion, SIMD, improved branch predication, faster FSB while keeping the medium length pipeline design.

Quote:

And bear in mind that the Eee (which is current technology) has sold over one million worldwide, so a computer does not need to have 20 core cpu to be successful and useful, not even on the x86 side.

One of the main features about ASUS's EeePC are its size and cost of purchase.
These factors are not attributed to SAM440 i.e. it’s not in “Netbook” form factor.
The growing segments in PC market are in the mobility space.

The netbook/laptops PC form factors pretty much renders the ITX form-factor as DOA i.e. where's the PC sales boom with ITX?

Last edited by Hammer on 21-Sep-2008 at 01:53 AM.
Last edited by Hammer on 21-Sep-2008 at 01:44 AM.
Last edited by Hammer on 21-Sep-2008 at 01:37 AM.

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Amiga 500 (rev 6A, ECS, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 4B/Emu68)
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@Hans
Quote:

PowerPC motherboards are no more or less proprietary than x86 ones, they're just nowhere near as common.

Where's PowerPC version of AMD's Yamato reference platform?

Refer to http://www.viaopenbook.com/
The X86 way for providing reference motherboard designs to ODM/OEMs (i.e. cut-n-paste engineering).

Last edited by Hammer on 21-Sep-2008 at 02:05 AM.

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Amiga 1200 (rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32/RPi CM4/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (rev 6A, ECS, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 4B/Emu68)
Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB

Does anyone else have the 'buy now' button missing from the AmigaOS 4.1 for Sam440 on AmigaKit's site?

@Hammer

Since no-one makes general purpose computers out of PowerPCs any more, there's no real reason to have a reference platform. Every board will be different depending on the appliance that it's connected to.

@tiffers

Works for me here, using the USA site. One thing, you may want to wait until after Pianeta before ordering... I don't have any inside info, but I have a hunch that ACube will be announcing the Flex version of the board then. The original SAM440 was introduced at a Pianeta show, and there's a video of AROS running on the Flex board at the ACube site, meaning that the design must be finalized by now. If I'm wrong, well you've only waited one extra week

@CodeSmith

AMD Yamato laptop reference design was released in ~2005. It was superseded by Yokohama (2006), then by Puma (2008). Apple released it's first Macbook in May 2006.

Quote:

Since no-one makes general purpose computers out of PowerPCs any more

Sony's Ken Kutaragi : "We don't say it's a game console (*laugh*) - PlayStation 3 is clearly a computer, unlike the PlayStations [released] so far.".

The problem with PS3 being a “computer” is that it’s MIA (missing In action) in mobility space i.e. almost DOA with laptop PC sales boom. Unlike laptops PCs, desktop PC unit sales growth remains sluggish.

Last edited by Hammer on 21-Sep-2008 at 07:29 AM.
Last edited by Hammer on 21-Sep-2008 at 07:22 AM.

_________________
Amiga 1200 (rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32/RPi CM4/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (rev 6A, ECS, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 4B/Emu68)
Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB

Quote:

Works for me here, using the USA site.

I tried UK and USA. Signed in / signed out. Cleared my cache / cookies , both in IE and firefox. No 'buy now' button..

*sigh*

Last edited by tiffers on 21-Sep-2008 at 10:04 AM.

Typical. I go away to China for 10 days and return to this! Well done on finally getting the hardware and software together guys.

Now, all you users out there who have been waiting for hardware - buy it. Seriously, we need to get units sold if there is any chance of that uber-super-Amiga that you want in the future. The market needs to grow, and it will only grow with the influx of money.

Last edited by amipal on 21-Sep-2008 at 08:34 AM.

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@CodeSmith

Quote:

I don't have any inside info, but I have a hunch that ACube will be announcing the Flex version of the board then

Could be. This from the 'What' page in the Pianeta Amiga site: "SAM440ep 1.5 new version of the famous PowerPC motherboard"