MEGA65 pre-orders open, AmigaOS compatibility possible
Date 18-Jun-2020 15:04:51
Topic: Announcement
| After an extended period of development and testing, the joint German-Australian team behind the MEGA65 computer is ready to start pre-orders for the so called "dev units", meant to form a common platform for budding software and hardware developers interested in the open source computer. While the M65 is in every respect a copy of Commodore's Commodore 64 successor - the Commodore 65, the open source platform and its advanced FPGA architecture allows anyone to improve on Commodore's original C65 design - including implementing support for its cousin operating system, AmigaOS. Amiga users may find the Mega 65's rich hardware feature set of extra interest, seeing it includes Ethernet connectivity, two DSUB-9 joystick/mouse ports, HDMI video output and a 3.5" high density floppy drive.
The pre-ordering will begin Thursday, June 18th at 09:00 CET on mega65.org. While the asking price of €999 may seem steep to some, project spokesperson Dr Paul Gardner-Stephen assures that the hefty price tag is explained by its limited production run and its acrylic case. Gardner-Stephens says that devkits, traditionally speaking, are sought after, collectible items and suggests that pitching in to the project at this stage may turn out to be an investment. The consumer version, which will make use of injection molding for its case, is expected to show up at retailers by the end of this year or early 2021.
|
|