> You've been able to get a Cortex-A9 tablet for under $100
> for a few months now. Granted this is probably only in the
> far east but once one of them does it the rest will follow.

I couldn't find that one or any other for below 100 USD anywhere for actual purchase. In the video from April you linked it's said the product is not on the market yet and will only get there in the coming months. It's not even listed on their website yet, only ARM9, ARM11 and Cortex-A8 tablets:

http://www.51cube.com/en/products.htm

But I had a look around anyway and it's true that there's quite a number of Cortex-A9 based tablets in the price range paradasa mentioned, i.e. 180 GBP (293 USD) or below. The cheapest one I was able to find for actual purchase was this one at 800 MHz for 170 USD:

http://www.merimobiles.com/Apad_MG7_Cortex_A9_MALI_GPU_Android_2_2_Flash_p/meri0624.htm


Edit: And now dual-core 1 GHz for 160 USD:

http://www.merimobiles.com/Teclast_P72_Android_2_2_Cortex_A9_1GHz_Dual_core_p/meri0689.htm

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 17.08.2011 - 00:48 ]

> what the point of making Morphos work on G5's if they dont
> make them anymore??

The point would be to have even faster hardware than G4 Macs with similar level of availability and (then) similarly low price and at the same time avoid the huge task of making MorphOS run on another ISA.

> What will you do then:)

You mean what the MorphOS Team will do after G5 Macs? Good question, and I don't have an answer. The MorphOS Team is not likely to give a roadmap at this point ;-)

Quote:

AFAIK there were 2 tablets with the same chip going to come out at below $100 sometime around March / April.

If you are Chinese and know the right shop in the right part of China this might actually be true. For the rest of us that means eBay shops. There's a whole heap of A9 tablets around £100.

Unfortunately if they're anything like the one I've seen I'd not even considering ordering them. The tablet makers tend to throw on any version of Android they can get their hands on. Usually an old non-tablet version with at best semi-functional drivers. I have the distinct impression that software testing at some companies consists of checking if the machine boots!

Thankfully, that seems to be changing but I'm not sure it's made it to devices yet.

BTW The amlogic chip itself is fine but nothing spectacular. It was designed to be cheap and probably sells for $5 or something equally silly.

> There's a whole heap of A9 tablets around £100.

...which is more like the 170 USD I've found than 100 USD ;-)

> The tablet makers tend to throw on any version of Android
> they can get their hands on. Usually an old non-tablet
> version with at best semi-functional drivers. I have the
> distinct impression that software testing at some companies
> consists of checking if the machine boots!

That's completely sufficient for paradasa as he intends to install MorphOS on it anyway ;-)

It seems paradasa has rebelled and became a "visitor"

Update:

>> A new company doing PPCs.

> And another one:
> http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4218659/Power-VeriSilicon-China
> Seems it's going to get crowded ;-)

Going by the schedule of the ASIA PAC event, there'll apparently be a third Chinese chip company (Chinachip) entering Power Architecture land:

"Smart World, Great Opportunity - Introducing A High Performance End-User Platform Chip for Cloud Devices"
https://www.power.org/events/ASIA-PAC-2011/agendafinal.jpg

for cloud devices .... I don't like "the cloud", I don't trust it. I hope MorphOS will not evolve to something that is only used for cloudcomputing.

> for cloud devices .... I don't like "the cloud"

I'm not so much a fan of it either but I like the "high performance" part of the statement ...whatever the Chinese think that means that is ;-)

> I hope MorphOS will not evolve to something that is only used for cloudcomputing.

It's probably not reasonable to assume that a random chip by a random Chinese company could have an influence on the development direction of MorphOS ;-)

Well if new PPC architecture never makes it to motherboards used for mainstraim desktop-like hardware... eventually a choice has to be made at some point.

And what do they call high performerance ? As in SAM460 ? Yes indeed great performerance ... for a tablet or as such. I doubt it very much the Chinese suddenly have a ppc chip that is an innovation, more likely a slightly altered copy.... as usual.

> if new PPC architecture never makes it to motherboards used for mainstraim
> desktop-like hardware... eventually a choice has to be made at some point.

True, that's a given.

> what do they call high performerance ?

That's the question to ask, yes. I already stated my stance some days ago.

> I doubt it very much the Chinese suddenly have
> a ppc chip that is an innovation

Mind you, innovation can not only refer to performance but also to power consumption, manufacturing costs and other things.

> more likely a slightly altered copy.... as usual.

But a *legal* "copy" in this case ;-) I'm eager to know whether they've developed new Power ISA compliant cores or if they just licensed existing Power ISA cores (like Applied Micro and LSI did with IBM's PPC4xx) and built their own SoCs around them.

It appears to me I have many more lives left:)

Thankyou Genesi for removing the European prices.


AUM.

[ Edited by amber-inc 16.08.2011 - 06:56 ]

> It appears to me I have many more lives left:)

Yes, at least two accounts still.

> Thankyou Genesi for removing the European prices.

Genesi's prices didn't change one iota since when you complained about them 5 days ago.

http://www.genesi-europe.com/store/eu/

We just becuase the dollar as gone down a new european slash page was created.

It's not fair internationally to charge different prices for different places.

These new ARM Cortex A9 Tablet Computers are better then smart books beucase of the touch functionality and Ipad style shape.

We need to create the MorphPAD!

1GHZ and 3D Games

A nice Tablet that is white and blue with a butterfly on the back for less then 199 that comes with the Morphos on SDcard or USB Stick with a user licence.

Regards.

www.paradox-computers.com

Oepabakkes,
Quote:

Wanna sing a song?

> We need to create the MorphPAD!

"We" as in "the MorphOS Team"? ;-) As a matter of fact, the MorphOS Team alone decides which hardware MorphOS is going to run on. There's no way "we" could make run MorphOS on an ARM based tablet (not even on a PPC based tablet) or any other hardware we might be fantasizing about. However, you might offer the MorphOS Team to join them in order to port MorphOS to ARM tablets and create your "MorphPAD" ;-)

> ARM Cortex A9 Tablet Computers [...] 1GHZ [...] for less then
> 199 that comes with the Morphos on SDcard or USB Stick
> with a user licence.

At least 170 USD would account for the tablet plus SD card or USB stick. That would leave less than 30 USD for the MorphOS license. Do you think the MorphOS Team would give the licenses away for that price when currently it's more than 5x of that?

Well I guess MorphOS team could share us some toughts on a rough estimate what porting to ARM would cost so he can provide them the much needed funds, if they are willing to do so.

On the other hand, why not wait ? ... maybe the Chinese are really going to get us new and exciting ppc devices that conquer the world. No porting needed to ARM then.

Altough one question ... why does it seem so easy for AROS devs to port to so many different architectures ? Are they with more ? Is it easier for some reason for them ?

Try running an AROS-x86 binary on ARM,PPC or even x86-64 and you got your answer......


Porting MorphOS to ARM might be relativly simple, but without compability to existing PPC and 68k code I hardly see a point.

Further fragmentation is the last thing we could need.

I am 100% with you about fragmentation and 101% what backwards compatibility is concerned.

In my opinion it would be only worth it if it happens in a way Apple did move to x86: Very powerfull hardware and something like Rosetta to keep old software running.

About your first sentence: you want to say it is not running very well ? Understandable if you want to support so many different platforms with not so many devs.

> something like Rosetta to keep old software running.

That's exactly the problem. A transparent CPU emulator *and* endianness converter (for little-endian host CPU) like Rosetta is not possible with MorphOS. Read what the father of MorphOS had to say about that issue some years ago:

http://moobunny.dreamhosters.com/cgi/mbmessage.pl/amiga/126048.shtml

For a host CPU that is able to run in true big-endian mode this would be a non-issue, though, like it is right now with transparently running m68k code on PPC MorphOS.

> you want to say it is not running very well ?

No, he wants to say that AROS executables compiled for a certain CPU ISA don't run on AROS for any other CPU ISA *at all*. The same would apply to MorphOS as long as it lacks transparent emulators for the other ISAs. And such emulator would only be possible for CPUs with matching endianness anyway (see above).

So all answers answered then !

Andreas_Wolf,
Quote:

Hmmm.

More sales meens licence price can come down.

Its simple math.

How much is AmigaOS4.1? about £100 ok and how many sell? say if 5000 sold yeh on hardware that too expensive.


Now try Morphos on sd or usb stick for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! worth over £159.99 when you buy the new MorphPAD!

We sell 15000 units and a contirbution goes to the MOS Team...... say £50 for each unit....

how much is that?
--------------------------------------

Ive just seen the nicest white sleek A9 Tablet for £100 plus mos £50 contribution and shipping = <199 worldwide!!!!!

ARM or PPC dont matter you can still run an emulator for old stuff.

We need to move into the future and ARM's possibly going to last and be cheaper.

But I think the MorphPAD could also be the first G4 PPC Mac in a Tablet in the world also. tbh Both versions would be nice:)

MorphOS-Mobile V1. ARM or PPC dont matter:)

This is the way forward for US as in the whole of the Amiga Community:)

P.S. I visioned the MorphPAD in the Genesi developer forums about 4 years ago now then a while later the IPad came out.

It really annoying tbh.

Regards.


[ Edited by amber-inc 17.08.2011 - 17:30 ]

> More sales meens licence price can come down. Its simple math.

The reduction in price actually depends on how much sales you anticipate. So it's not just simple math but also market assessment. That's the part where you can easily fail miserably, even as a graduated mathematician.

> Now try Morphos on sd or usb stick for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! worth over £159.99 when
> you buy the new MorphPAD! We sell 15000 units and a contirbution goes to the
> MOS Team...... say £50 for each unit....

How's that MorphOS for free when 50 GBP of the price for the package go to the MorphOS Team? Wouldn't that amount to exactly 50 GBP for one MorphOS license? Otherwise, that sounds like a plan. Now you just have to go ahead with it, convince the MorphOS Team and sell your 15,000 MorphPADs :-)

> A9 Tablet for £100 plus mos £50 contribution and shipping = <199 worldwide!!!!!

Ah okay, you were talking GBP all along, not USD. For 199 GBP you wouldn't even have to sacrifice on the current MorphOS price.

> ARM or PPC dont matter you can still run an emulator for old stuff.

For a completely boxed emulation like UAE this is certainly true. For a seemless one like currently implemented in MorphOS PPC I'm not convinced.

> I think the MorphPAD could also be the first G4 PPC Mac in a Tablet in the world also.

Yeah, more like a 400 MHz or below "G4 PPC Mac in a Tablet" and lacking AltiVec ;-)

> I visioned the MorphPAD in the Genesi developer forums about 4 years ago

They wanted to do a PPC tablet but as we all know the plans they had for the MPC5121e didn't work out:

http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2008/06/cherrypal-et-al.html

Thanks for helping bro.

I had my stuff deleted from the developer forums and everything:(

Maybe if you look somewhere you can get them back.

I was going to put an Efika into the back of a lcd tv

and designed the MorphPAD! you will be shocked at how much it resembles the IPad but its nice and white with a blue purple leds

That link is a joke:) seen the thing..thats like an robotic or automated stand still device not a Mobile MorphPAD.

http://armdevices.net/2011/04/09/95-cortex-a9-tablet-review-kinstone-ks-umd070a9/ <<<cheap single core

http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-store/906615/211025180-458423653/Renesas-Android-Cortex-A9-Tablet-Netbook-7-inch-N7A-Bluetooth-Capacitive-2-2-Dual-core-1GHz.html?tracelog=back_to_detail_a <<<<<MorphPAD:)

DUAL CORE 1GHZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

160 DOllars$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$


COME ON NOW HURRY UP PLEASE STOP WASTING MY TIME.

I wanna put the MorphPAD in my worldwide online store:)

more pics...

http://yishuntuo.en.alibaba.com/viewimg/picture.html?picture=http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/449608852/7_inch_Renesas_EV2_Tablet_PC_Cortex.jpg

* 7 inch Tablet
* Andriod 2.2
* 4GB
* 512M
* Capatitive Screen
* HDMI
* EXternal 3G
* Bluetooth
* Camera
* Battery: 3200 Mah


UNBELIEVABLE FAST, SMOOTH, FLUENT WITH RENESAS CORTEX A9

7" Renesas Dual Cortex-A9 Android 2.2 N7A 512M 4GB WIFI HDMI TFT Capacitive Touch Tablet PC

This tablet PC comes with Dual Cortex-A9 Renesas EV2 processor, Android 2.2 operation system, 512 memory, 1.3M Camera, 4GB HDD and a 7 inch TFT Capacitive touch screen with a 800*480 resolution. This tablet PC supports TF card. It has a wide range of office applications, such as word, excel, power point and email function. Moreover, network 1080P HDMI video, music, online chatting and image are supported. WIFI is also available in this tablet PC. It is a good entertainment and internet device.



Features:

• Dual Cortex-A9 Renesas EV2 Processor.
• Android 2.2 operation system.
• 512M memory, 4GB HDD.
• 7 inch TFT Capacitive touch screen, 800*480 resolution.
• Support TF card.
• Battery: 3200mAh.
• G-sensor Support
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Support word, excel, power point and email function.
• Support network 1080P HDMI video, music, online chatting, image.
• WIFI function.

Hardware Specs
CPU ARM Cortex A9 Dual core @ 533MHz
3-D graphics acceleration
1080P video decoder
Storage NAND flash 4G
Wireless IEEE 802.11 b/g/n network
Bluetooth2.1(Option)
Embedded(WCDMA/EV-DO/TD-SCDMA)(Option)
USB 1*Mini USB 2.0 port
camera 30W
Screen Size 7 inch
Resolution 800*480
Colors 16 million colors
Operation capacitive touch-screen
Others Product Size About 195mm(length) ×115mm(width) ×13mm(depth)
Color White
Product Weight 430g
Battery 3200mAH Built-in Li-poly battery
Accessory User Manual, USB Line,Charger

LOOK AT THESE!

0.jpg

469716404_o.jpg

469716308_o.jpg

469716302_o.jpg

[ Edited by amber-inc 17.08.2011 - 19:51 ]

Reply over there:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?topic_id=7984&forum=3&start=2

Update:

> "Smart World, Great Opportunity - Introducing A High
> Performance End-User Platform Chip for Cloud Devices"
> https://www.power.org/events/ASIA-PAC-2011/agendafinal.jpg

Now also in the official press release:

https://www.power.org/news/pr/view?item_key=e96d273c96e162bac7f725cae1515306d653794e

Some more from recent press release:

"Already actively developing with Power Architecture technology, Chinachip will announce its latest Power Architecture-based family of SoCs for cloud devices at the 2011 ASIA Power Architecture conference [...]. Chinachip specializes in the development of high-performance, low power, highly integrated portable multimedia and personal computer SoC solutions for consumer electronics applications. The company's products are widely used in handheld games, books, multimedia players, and highly-integrated personal computers. Leveraging the latest technologies, the company provides some of the industry's highest performance solutions at the most competitive prices. 'Power Architecture technology plays an important part in our technology development as we continue to increase performance to meet the rapidly changing demands of the consumer market,' said Mr. Jiwu Li, CEO, Chinachip."
https://www.power.org/news/pr/view?item_key=31ff79f97e33ff8a9b6c4fbd6cee8463c9ab030c

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 25.08.2011 - 20:38 ]