Derek Peschel wrote:
>- 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.
Hardly anyone outside Amiga Inc knows anything about the
hardware yet. I expect that more news will trickle out over
the summer. The only information I have is that the whole
thing is on one chip allowing performance equivalent to
high-end systems. One of the many rumours doing the rounds
at the moment is that it will use the "Emotion Engine" that
will be at the heart of the PSX2. Whether this is true or
not remains to be seen. This November (unless it is
delayed) three new Amigas will go on sale:
- The Developers Machine.
This will be a standard x86 system bundled with the Siamese
PCI (Amiga-on-a-card), a developers version of the OS and
some kind of hardware simulator. This was originally due
for release last November but a change in OS partner caused
it to be delayed.
- A Internet Box
A low end system for the set-top market.
- An A500-style machine
Like the internet box this will be a low-end system to fill
the original markets that the A500 and A1200 were aimed at.
I have a unconfirmed source that the machine will be in a
custom mini-tower with an external keyboard. However, until
there is more news released your guess is as good as mine.
> - 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).
There is some documentation on the AGA chipset on Aminet.
The release of AmigaOS 3.5 around May should correct some
of the problems regarding documentation.
>- How about backward compatibility? Are they going >to
>promise a lot? Can they deliver? Again, the example of
>Apple sticks in my mind.
They have said that compatibility will be high, all
software that runs on AmigaOS 3.5 should run on the new
machine. This could be achieved through software by
either an optional emulation layer that or an emulator
along the lines of UAE. There will be a version of the
Siamese card available to run "Classic" Amiga software
through hardware. Visit www.siamese.co.uk for more
information on this. Another option will be the use of
another operating system could AROS. As many list members
will probably know, this has been in development for a
number of years and is an attempt to produce a 100%
portable AmigaOS-compatible. I have a reliable source that
tells me Amiga Inc have been in talks with them to continue
development. What direction this will take in the future
though is impossible to guess.
> Maybe it would be best to have one (or more) old Amigas.
Definitely. I'm always on the lookout for cheap Amigas and
they are very cheap. In the UK A1200's are sold around the
£50 second-hand and I saw a A4000/030 retailing at £350.
--
Gareth Knight
Amiga Interactive Guide- http://welcome.to/aig
"Shine on your star"
Received on Mon Mar 08 1999 - 08:22:08 GMT