Post by Robert SwensonPost by WaryaPost by GoldenHeartIve come up with a great idea to bring the Amiga back. Is there anyone
i can contact to get the ball rolling.
I think an Amiga Set Top Box would thrash the opposition(Playstation
3, Wii, X-Box).
See my post XANADU Technologies. ;-)
I have a better suggestion to bring the Amiga back. Base it on something
similar to an AMD Quad FX platform. Some kind of Dual or more core CPU
setup(AMD Folx...lets help out our fellow under dog, Amigans!), and multi
CPU for Servers and hardcore gaming. Low power cores for
notebook/netbooks. Multi core processors can be configured for classic
Amiga style multitasking that made the Amiga so great in the first
place(among other things).
Graphics based on AMDs Hybrid Crossfire tech, which would reduce overall
costs of motherboard for the various models of PC. The low end computers
could use the built in graphics processor, which in itself can be upgraded
by adding RAM to the motherboard, which means low profile(A500-1200) style
systems can be made and still have immense graphics capabilities. And of
course Big Box Systems A1200T-A4000T systems have room to upgrade with a
videocard, or one can be configured with the system prior to purchase.
Portables of course can be made the same way.
Add digital sound good optical drive tech and catweasel type floppy
controller tech to add with classic Amiga emulation(E-UAE anyone?) and you
would have an AWESOME new tech AMIGA!!!
Of course The OS would have to be programmed for X86 Tech, but I'm sure
there plenty of people out there more than capable of doing that.
My other idea was to use an ATi GPGPU as the CPU with an X86 as a
Coprocessor, but that would be too much like a Cell processor wouldn't it?
Not to mention totally wierd and hard as heck to progam for. :P
PS. If anyone DOES take this idea and run with it...can I have a Job and
some credit for its conception! LOL
This is going to be my project when I win the lottery and can quit working
at Goodyear. :)
What's the point? The Amiga has been gone too long. If you really want to do
something, be original. Come up with something totally new. Go beyond the
Amiga - not really hard to do considering it's been dead for so many years.
The point is that no matter how old something is, if it was or is
good, then what's wrong with modernizing it? Look at all the remakes
of movies, automobiles, and even songs. Heck they're making a sequel
to TRON that will come out 28 years after the original? Now if a movie
that at best only had a "Cult" following can get a remake after 28
years, what's wrong with modernizing the computer most responsible for
the way computers are run today? Where did multitasking, multimedia,
and high performance gaming come from? Thank you..
Post by Robert SwensonNostalgia is nice, but the Amiga was never about nostalgia. It was about
ground breaking technology. The Amiga pushed the boundaries of computer
technology farther than anyone else. The Amiga had 4096 colors when the PC
had 16. The Amiga had stereo sound while the PC had a simple bleep/bloop
keyboard buzzer. The Amiga had a modern 32-bit operating system while the PC
was stuck in DOS - a clone of CP/M.
Correct and that's my point. You can make the Amiga all those things
again. You can modify an Intel, or preferably an AMD chipset with a
proprietary custom chipset specifically designed for the Amiga OS,
bring it up to current technology standards, and develop for future
standards and once again you're pushing the boundaries of technology.
Post by Robert SwensonEverything about the Amiga was new, exciting, different. It was like getting
an expensive workstation for a fraction of the price.
With the current price and availability of X86 hardware, you're going
to get an expensive workstation at a fraction of the price.
Post by Robert SwensonI want something that will knock my socks off. I want the new "Amiga", not a
rehashed clone of a 25 year-old system. I want the system Jay Minor and the
rest of the team would have built if they were still around today.
And this is what I am proposing. I'm not saying we should follow
Apple's lead and just use a different style BIOS(whatever they call
it, EMF I think.), on basically the same X86 hardware as a PC, but
make an entirely NEW custom chipset, much like they did for the Amiga
One, and use an X86 processor for it. Or modify something like a
hybrid crossfire capable setup so a user could expand a system to his
liking. Just use a custom built version. Remember, when the Amiga came
out, there were two other computers that were based on the Motorola
68K CPU at the time or thereabouts. The Mac and the Atari ST. And yet
it wasn't until almost what, Year 2000 before the Amiga's custom
chipset could be emulated with enough speed for it to be useful.
Post by Robert SwensonThe big problem with the computer industry today is that we lack
visionaries. We need someone to take charge and take us to the next level in
computing. Go beyond Windows and OSX. Most of the changes in computing for
the past 25 years have been incremental. Today's systems can still boot DOS!
It's time to go on.
Right, and that's what I want to do. I want to make a system that
while based on similar hardware(for the sake of cost effectiveness and
availability), but add my own customized chipset so that once again,
you can't just copy the OS with a custom bootrom and then run the OS
on generic hardware. make it where they have to emulate everything so
that unless you have a 16+core system(which most people don't) you
can't just emulate the entire chipset and run the OS. Make it cheaper
to buy the Amiga than it would be to emulate it.
By doing that, you can make the Amiga modernized, groundbreaking, and
best of all, cost effective.