[News] AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse | ANN.lu |
Posted on 24-Jul-2002 22:17 GMT by Douglas McLaughlin | 106 comments View flat View list |
On the AmigaOne mailing list, Alan Redhouse from Eyetech posted the following update:
Many dev board purchasers were clearly motivated by the 10% discount
rather than their ability to contribute to the developer process. The
initial boards were therefore shipped to those who could make a real
contribution to developing drivers etc, and porting Linux/UAE
distributions. Their progress has been astounding IMO with no less
than 5 different linux distributions (SuSE, Debian, Mandrake, Yellow
Dog and TurboLinux) being ported within a couple of weeks. More...
Many dev board purchasers were clearly motivated by the 10% discount
rather than their ability to contribute to the developer process. The
initial boards were therefore shipped to those who could make a real
contribution to developing drivers etc, and porting Linux/UAE
distributions. Their progress has been astounding IMO with no less
than 5 different linux distributions (SuSE, Debian, Mandrake, Yellow
Dog and TurboLinux) being ported within a couple of weeks.
However the Softex open firmware we had originally shipped with the
dev boards (incidently as seen on the Pegasos video) has several
shortcomings (although this has been used to boot the 5 linux
distributions and the OS4 kernel) and we are currently
developing/extending the alternative PPCBoot open firmware for use on
the production AmigaOne boards. This will allow us to build in Amiga-
specific boot etc options, a well as a more comprehensive multi-boot
environment.
We are not shipping the remainder of the dev boards (or any of the
user boards) until this code is complete because of the expense of
shipping update ROMs and chip changing tools. This is anticipated to
be towards the end of August.
This revision to the boot ROM is being undertaken by Hyperion as part
of the work necessary for booting OS4 on the A1.
Meanwhile the Amiga Inc club membership/coupon program results
(coupled with our own market extrapolation processes) means that the
future of the AmigaOne is in no doubt.
Finally several people have asked us why we are not delivering the A1
board to Linux users in advance of the release of OS4. Well there are
two main reasons:
1 - This is a product we are producing for the Amiga market and IMO
it is proper that the Amiga community get their hands on it first.
2 - I still cannot see why there would be a significant market for
Linux on the A1 given that the main focus of Linux is the x86
platform, which - because of sheer sales volumes - will always be an
order of magnitude cheaper than a ppc-based product.
Hope this helps
Alan
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AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 39 of 106 | ANN.lu |
Posted by takemehomegrandma on 25-Jul-2002 10:42 GMT | > However the Softex open firmware we had originally shipped with the dev
> boards (incidently as seen on the Pegasos video) has several shortcomings
> (although this has been used to boot the 5 linux distributions and the OS4
> kernel)
So everything works with the old firmware, both Linux and OS4. Hand in hand! The way everybody wants it!
> and we are currently developing/extending the alternative PPCBoot open
> firmware for use on the production AmigaOne boards. This will allow us to
> build in Amiga- specific boot etc options, a well as a more comprehensive
> multi-boot environment.
What "Amiga specific boot options" could there possibly be, that can't be achieved the normal way in the 21:st century, that is through a disc based bootloader? Enhancing a BIOS is one thing (corrections/optimizations), but why bother to put things that should be disc based into ROM? Everything that is disc based is easy for the user to change/update according to his/her needs. By refusing that option to the user you make the hardware crippled! As little as possible should be in ROM, just what's absolutely necessary to start up the hardware. Then the power of decisions should be turned over to the users wants and needs.
> This revision to the boot ROM is being undertaken by Hyperion as part of the
> work necessary for booting OS4 on the A1.
I can't imagine that there would have to be ANY NECESSARY WORK to make OS4 boot on the A1. Heck, even the old 'Amiga Classic' OS boots nicely without a physical amiga specific ROM. The only thing you need is a standard BIOS and a harddrive. If OS4 *STILL* uses the old kickstart ROM's (for some reason) - no problemo! Just put the old ROM imagefiles in the boot process. All work on "developing/extending" (hehe, ahem) the boot ROM is unnecessary, and the purpose of still doing so can only be to purpously cripple the hardware/os and tieing the os to one specific hardware solution.
This is a severe limitation to OS4/A1. Limitations are NEVER good. Not for anyone!
> Finally several people have asked us why we are not delivering the A1 board
> to Linux users in advance of the release of OS4. Well there are two main
> reasons:
> 1 - This is a product we are producing for the Amiga market and IMO it is
> proper that the Amiga community get their hands on it first.
Oh, how touching! You are a commercial hardware company that REFUSES to sell your product to customers willing to pay for it. There is nothing Amiga specific about the A1 (at least not until you cripple it with your "extensions") and there is no logical reasons whatsoever to refuse possible sales in the wait for OS4. By doing so you:
1 - Misses a lot of possible sales. You are acting on a tiny, low volume, market where every single sale counts. There are people out there that are willing to buy your product, but instead of being glad over the demand and the possibility to make some money, you say "No, sorry, this is a product for the AMIGA market. You can't buy it before we have crippled it some more". You mention that the coupon circus from Amiga Inc secures the future of the A1, but what can secure the future more than *ACTUAL SALES*?
2 - Keep the costs on a high level. Volume and costs goes hand in hand. By refusing sales you are also refusing higher volume on your product which will make it more expensive than necessary for *EVERYONE*. That in turn may very well push away some potential buyers (which means even lower volume) and put the whole "Amiga Comeback" in danger.
> 2 - I still cannot see why there would be a significant market for Linux on
> the A1 given that the main focus of Linux is the x86 platform, which -
> because of sheer sales volumes - will always be an order of magnitude cheaper
> than a ppc-based product.
Well, there IS a market for PPC Linux. Why are YOU supporting PPC when x86 is so much cheaper? The same reasons goes for some (but far from all, of course) Linux users. Or perhaps the whole Amiga migration to PPC is a mistake? Perhaps the Amiga migration should have been towards x86 instead, since it is cheaper and still more powerful? Or what do you mean?
Finally, have a look at http://www.petitiononline.com/amigaos/
You will see that the amount of signatures to that petition is almost as high as the coupon sales. What does that say to you? |
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