The new Amigas (was Re: The TI 34010)

From: Derek Peschel <dpeschel_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Mon Mar 8 05:49:39 1999

> The Neutrino kernel that the new Amiga will be using runs
> on x86, MIPS and PPC.

I've been doing some research on the current Amigas. It's a very nice
platform. I may even buy a new machine (or find a current one used) but I
have some reservations. Maybe you can address them:

        - What kind of custom hardware (if any) will be used?
          A PowerPC is a very nice chip, but dedicated chips can make
          your life so much easier.

        - I hope documentation is a priority. The early Amiga docs are
          very good but they slipped in quality (and just at the time when
          people needed to know the most, e.g., about the AGA hardware).

          I worry about Amiga trying to keep something hidden; Apple is a
          similar example of a company I don't trust much anymore.

        - How about backward compatibility? Are they going to promise a
          lot? Can they deliver? Again, the example of Apple sticks in
          my mind.

          Even among Motorola Amigas, compatibility can be a tricky issue.
          I hear it's mostly pretty good (e.g., when running old games)
          but it's got to break down sometimes (when the old software
          is very badly written). Also, it conflicts with the next point.
          When switching CPU's, the problem becomes much harder.

          Maybe it would be best to have one (or more) old Amigas.

        - What about new features? Protected memory? I did say this
          conflicts with backward compatibilty. :)

The 2nd and 3rd points are most important to me. I'm continually searching
for the elusive thing called "style" or "good taste" or "doing it right". In
some ways, Commodore scored very high; in other ways they scored very low.
It would be a shame if they just repeated their mistakes, or made some new
blunders.

Hmm, is the modern incarnation of a classic computer still a classic? This
kind of resurrection doesn't happen very often!

-- Derek
Received on Mon Mar 08 1999 - 05:49:39 GMT