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[News] AmigaOne Update from Alan RedhouseANN.lu
Posted on 24-Jul-2002 22:17 GMT by Douglas McLaughlin106 comments
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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
AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 101 of 106ANN.lu
Posted by dtomlyn on 29-Jul-2002 14:44 GMT
In reply to Comment 39 (takemehomegrandma):
The problem with having an almost totally disk based OS, (like windoze, linux etc), is RELIABILITY... (Having almost a whole OS on a writable surface is asking for trouble IMO). The same 'advantage' of having the ability to change/upgrade core system files (at all), can be a VERY big disadvantage... (If windoze had some core files in ROM the OS could fall back to if the disk-based stuff fell over, it would make it a lot better... (IMO)).
So long as the ROM based stuff works, and can be used to boot the comp without a disk, aswell as automatically being superseded by any disk-based files... (The Amiga could be better in this respect, though soft-kicking isn't the end of the world).
The PC's flexibility is a double edged sword...
I LIKE the Amiga's ROM chip, and am pleased that the A1 is going the same way...
AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 102 of 106ANN.lu
Posted by Solar on 30-Jul-2002 06:59 GMT
In reply to Comment 101 (dtomlyn):
> So long as the ROM based stuff works, and can be used to boot the
> comp without a disk, aswell as automatically being superseded by
> any disk-based files...
Pray tell, where's the difference between having a replacable ROM and having no ROM at all? You've done a thinko here, I am afraid.
A protected OS has full control over what is written where. It should be easy to protect crucial components against unpriviledged access, i.e. enforcing "read-only" in software, without the hassles a ROM brings about (size limits, hardware requirements, and updating the OS is a pain involving opening your case, which Joe Average should never be required to do).
AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 103 of 106ANN.lu
Posted by dtomlyn on 30-Jul-2002 08:17 GMT
In reply to Comment 102 (Solar):
'Pray tell, where's the difference between having a replacable ROM and having no ROM at all? You've done a thinko here, I am afraid.'
If it's done correctly, the only time the ROM would have to be replaced is if it blows... Anything that is out of date on the ROM (version wise) should be superseded by later versions on disk automatically on boot-up... - as I said the current way of doing it on the Amiga ('soft-kicking'), is still not the best (or only) way that it can be done...
The No1 rule of computing is 'Always have a backup...' I consider a ROM chip to be the ultimate fallback, and it has saved my Amiga quite a few times - if I had one on my PC, windoze wouldn't have been re-installed as much either... (Without a CD-R, backups of windoze are a PITA).
Software is usually easier to break than hardware...
AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 104 of 106ANN.lu
Posted by Solar on 30-Jul-2002 08:51 GMT
In reply to Comment 103 (dtomlyn):
Nice dodging. ;-)
If you make the ROM "supercedable", you lose any added security.
And as for "fallback" functionality - that's usually what backups are for. I cannot remember a singe occurrence of the ROM saving me anything. My bootable ZIP, however, did - and you don't need a ROM-based OS to boot from some other source...
AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 105 of 106ANN.lu
Posted by cheesemower on 31-Jul-2002 21:54 GMT
Use EPROMs. We are in the XXIst century for crissakes! Even cheap PCs use them.
AmigaOne Update from Alan Redhouse : Comment 106 of 106ANN.lu
Posted by Williiam Shatt on 22-Sep-2002 03:17 GMT
If one were to only use the AmigaOne homepage as a guide, they would be sorely disppointed.
March to September, is a long time even in the eyes of average folks who've come to be inundated by the knowledge that computer evolution reinvents itself every few months, and that a pc bought today is obsolete tomorrow.
Yet on the Amiga One website, no update since March. It's almost October. 6 months( A whole generation of technology in 'other' computer circles ).
I am not a naysayer.
Eyetech/Amiga,Inc could combat bad publicity if the July announcement had been placed as a hyperlink addendum to the March Update. Then the potential web-surfer wouldn't be thinking, "Wow, March, eh? Nothing since then? Must be something wrong with this concept."
But I'll bet some official will bring up the fact that it costs too much money to add a hyperlink. Let's hear the rant again about how difficult it is to maintain a website, when auto-html conversion is built into most word processors.
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