Speaking only for myself. I am thrilled to have a Talos 2. I have not spent this much time 'computing' since working on the Xmos chip on the now abandoned X1000. One of the most beautiful things about this machine is that it comes with full documentation including schematics ( I could not even get an answer to where the addresses where for the GPIO pins going to Xena from anybody that had anything to do with the X1000. Over 2 years of wasted time.I see nothing that is different for the X5000 or any of their future products. They can keep their secrets, I'm done with their hardware.)

Since the announcement of the Blackbird I have been setting aside money and plan to purchase probably June/July time frame. It will replace the aging 4core x86 something-or-other I only use as a web utility box. I would not even think of doing other than that on any x86. Just me, but by the end of next year not only will this be a Windows free house but also x86 free.

If MorphOS (or AmigaOS) ran on these machines I would be very happy to purchase and donate to the cause. X86........ not going to happen, that's just jungle computing in my view.

Ah, the future.

Quote:

A lot of productivity software (both PPC and 68k) will take advantage of at least the extra CPU power. If you're batch processing an SD card full of images then you'll also be taking advantage of the faster drive access although not the USB since I'm not aware of any of the Amiga or Amiga Like OSs supporting anything beyond 2.0.

I cannot deny that if they manage to sell a complete Blackbird PPC computer in the 1000 Euro range it would be very interesting, even without MorphOS (and perfect with it). Do Raptor sell in Europe?

> if they manage to sell a complete Blackbird PPC computer in the
> 1000 Euro range it would

...mean to almost give away the board :-)

> Do Raptor sell in Europe?

No, but they sell to Europe ;-) Seriously, Raptor seems to be in talks with German Vikings GmbH.

Update:
https://twitter.com/vikingslibre/status/1132724932075503618

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 29.05.2019 - 01:32 ]

CyberMonday special from RaptorCS:
Blackbird mATX mainboard with 4-core POWER9

$999

https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1066112465304543232

> CyberMonday special from RaptorCS:
> Blackbird mATX mainboard with 4-core POWER9
> $999
> https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1066112465304543232

Nice offer, and also with 8-core CPU for $1330:

https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1066192526355386368

And it reveals that on-board audio is from C-Media.

Btw, official page has been put up: https://www.raptorcs.com/BB/

That's a good price. Hopefully in the future they manage to bring down prices to consumer level in the future to seriously challenge x86/64. Unfortunately the question most people will ask is "how do I install Windows?"

The answer ideally would be, you don't need Windows, it runs MorphOS :D :D

[ Edited by Everblue 24.11.2018 - 13:25 ]

>> https://twitter.com/thibaudibm/status/1047538907926220800
>> https://twitter.com/stewartsmith/status/1047444730450251776
>> http://image-store.slidesharecdn.com/a8603fb1-8f75-4c0e-bf14-7a0cb53d6b3d-original.jpeg

> Is the white connector on the board, above, right, for testing (?)

That's a FlexVer connector:

https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/documentation/flexver_intro.pdf
https://www.raptorengineering.com/TALOS/documentation/integrimon_intro.pdf
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/w/images/e/e3/T2P9D01_users_guide_version_1_0.pdf (page 27)

Live broadcast going on now using Talos 2 ppc64le.

Go here first. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8auI9RIFJQ

Then open new tab and go here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18n-m_o-b-0
For live.

>> Special developer system available for 1600 USD: [...]

> That's cheaper than an X5000. Why does A-Eonkit even bother?

Trevor on the Talos II:

"I'm sitting looking at a very expensive, heavy but at the moment useless lump of electronics and metal sitting in the corner of my office. Hey who said an AmigaOne! ;-) In August last year I ordered a Talos II Secure Workstation from Raptop Computing Systems. You may have heard of Raptor as the company that launched a failed crowd funding campaign in October 2016 to create inexpensive low cost IBM Power8 Workstations. [...] Their goal was to raise US$3.7 million but when the campaign ended on January 14th, 2017 it had attracted 268 backers (including me) but was only 14% funded. [...] In August the company announced it was re-launching the Talos II programme but this time with IBM POWER9 processors [...]. [...] as I needed a secure independent server for all my technical and business data, what better than a new POWER9 based system. I ordered a crazily high specification machine [...]. In addition to all the standard Talos II features it included two 18-core PowerP CPUs, 96 Gb of DDR 4 Ram, an LSI 9300 8-port SATA interface card together with a Radeon Pro WX7100 Workstation graphics card and a 500 Gb Sumsung Flash storage drive. I paid my money and waited for the system to be developed. With the price I paid including shipping and NZ import duties I could have purchased 8 or 9 complete AmigaOne X5000 systems which can actually run AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and Linux. Almost one year after I placed my order the machine finally arrived. It was very well packed and had survived the long journey to New Zealand. The machine is a very heavy beast and extremely noisy but seems to be extremely well engineered. It is a server of course so I suppose the noise is to be expected, although I might have to set it up in the garage or the garden shed IF I can ever get Linux installed. I ordered the system with PowerPC Linux pre-installed but it arrived with instructions to download a WIP Linux image from the web. I suppose I shouldn't complain as the certificate supplied with the machine indicated my system was Order Number 1. It might explain why none of the installation procedures work. I have to admit trying to install the beta Linux makes my initial foray into the Linux world with the AmigaOne X1000, X5000 and A1222/Tabor seem like a walk in the park. OK I am the first to admit I am no Linux server expert, but I have installed various Linux distributions on multiple PowerPC and x86 machines in the past. I even supervised the Linux support for the AmigaOne X1000 and wrote the early installation guide before the first Ubuntu Live CD was produced by Pat Wall. The Talos II Secure Workstation is really aimed at a Linux administrator in a data centre and to be honest, I've been so busy with other pressing work over the past three months that I put the Workstation in the corner and forgot about it. However, it's now time to actually get it working as I need to create a backup SVN for some important source files. I've now written to Raptor Computing asking for assistance."
http://blog.a-eon.biz/blog/?m=20181222

Interesting price comparison. Treavor usually isn't one to BS, but 8 or 9 X5000s? That is nonsense.
And Raptor's MATX board will be much cheaper.

Frankly, the man sounds scared.

The P50X0 is far less suited to desktop use than a Power 9 CPU with fewer PCIe lanes and older generation I/O devices.

At one time Qorlq CPUs were our only remaining PPC option. That is no longer so.

Don't forget "Terons cost 5000$".



Feels like I'm in a timeloop and soon someone will claim that an A1 is cheaper than the Pegasos1 (omitting VAT for only one of the two).......


On the other hand, Trevor does seem like a guy who would sink big money into overspecced HW he has no use for.

What he lists as planned uses could have been done something around rPI specs.....

> Interesting price comparison. Treavor usually isn't one to BS,
> but 8 or 9 X5000s? That is nonsense.

I've just tried to recreate Trevor's order at the Raptor website according to the mentioned specs and have arrived at 10829 USD. With estimated 500 USD shipping costs from US to NZ and 2600 USD import duty this adds up to about 13930 USD total.
X5000 is 2025 USD at AmigaKit. With estimated 200 USD shipping costs from UK to NZ and 550 USD import duty this adds up to about 2775 USD total.
In conclusion, what he paid for his Talos II system could have bought him 13930/2775 ≈ 5 complete AmigaOne X5000 systems. So yes, 8 or 9 seems to be nonsense.

> The P50X0 is far less suited to desktop use than a Power 9 CPU
> with fewer PCIe lanes and older generation I/O devices.

POWER9 lacks most of QorIQ P5's I/O controllers and therefore requires external controllers for the (same or newer generation) functionality. Fortunately, this is no problem thanks to the big number of POWER9's available PCIe lanes.

> Don't forget "Terons cost 5000$".

Actually, it was 3900 USD for single qty, 2340 USD for 2-5 qty and undisclosed price for 6+ qty :-)

http://web.archive.org/web/20021230163457/http://www.mai.com:80/products/teron%20px.htm

Quote:

The problem with Trevor's order is it is based on complete systems.
I already have an EATX case and a 750 watt PSU with two 8 pin 12V power connectors.

Compare the prices of the boards alone, buy the additional components needed, and assemble the systems yourself and the pricing is much closer.

Better yet, buy Raptor's new uATX board and the Power 9 system is cheaper than the Qorlq based system.

The 8 core/32 thread offering is particularly attractive.

> Trevor on the Talos II: [...]

Cameron Kaiser replies:

https://www.talospace.com/2018/12/who-got-talos-ii-order-1.html

Quote:

Good reply by Cameron. I too find it pretty ridiculous that Trevor claims downloading and burning a Linux DVD is too difficult and requires a professional System Administrator. Looks like he bought S/N#1 just to promote his own overpriced product.

> Trevor claims downloading and burning a Linux DVD is too difficult
> and requires a professional System Administrator.

Actually, what he claims is that after downloading of the Linux image (whichever he means), the actual installation is what does not work for him ("none of the installation procedures work") and requires the knowledge of a Linux administrator.

> he bought S/N#1

He bought order #1. Considering that Cameron's order #8 is serial #12, Trevor's order #1 might be serial #5.

I don't think Trevor meant anything rude with his comments about the Talos II.
Certainly he, if anybody, knows the many things that cannot be foreseen in developing a new hardware package. Heck, the guy has several websites..... ask for help, He must know by now that several people in these groups have Talos machines.

> ask for help

That's what Trevor said he finally did.

> official page has been put up: https://www.raptorcs.com/BB/

Finally there:

https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1131347976054542342

Quote:

Cool. I've discussed buying one of these for Mark with Papi, but that went no where.
The 8 core variant is available.
Price $1604.99, but that doesn't include a cooler or shipping.
It would also need memory.

Still, not much of a price difference between this and te X5000, is there?

> The 8 core variant is available.

...as is the 4-core variant of the bundle.

> that doesn't include a cooler

The 8-core variant of the bundle does include the cooler, whereas the 4-core variant does not.

Quote:

I just noticed the cooler in the photo.
As it costs ab out $100, that brings the cost of the two systems closer.

BTW - My Dell laptop just died (a few days ago one memory slot stopped working, but I got it running again by removing one strip, now it appears to be fubared).
So...I have one X64 system left, and my MorphOS hardware.

I'm really tired of the lack of reliability I've experienced with this crap.
Most of it manufactured in China, the failure rate is too high.

[ Edited by Jim 23.05.2019 - 12:11 ]

Hmm power9 is only for some users...many of Morphos users cannot buy a such machine or even a X5000, i think also that this machine is probably stunning but it's to expensive for me.
It cost more than one month salary....but yes if we compare with high end smartphone it's a normal price... but for me a good smartphone is a lowend one...