Yokemate of Keyboards
Posts: 2793 from 2006/3/21
From: Northern Calif...
Quote:
Jim wrote:
Its odd that I get feedback that this ISA change is not as daunting as the additional features that are planned for the new platform.
And some of the developers, like Mark, have a real affinity for what they've already created.
When the R500 drivers were being created, Frank had a PCI-E X1950XTX, but Mark asked me specifically for an AGP X1950GT so that he could use his AGP G5 for development.
To the best of my knowledge, he's using a SAM460 for a lot of the current development (even though he has an X5000).
He says the cooling fan of the beta X5000 machines 'is just too loud for continuous use'!
In any case, once the ISA shift occurs, I'm keeping my PPC systems, if only for nostalgic value.
And I could reduce those to one PPC system, if it was as nice as the 11,2.
No doubt that some of the MorphOS Dev. Team members feel the same way as Mark, and would like to continue using PPC for a long time. How many feel this way, and what parts of MorphOS they work on, will likely influence how fast the shift to x64 happens, or if it is successful at all.
Until we have proof in the way of more modern software to run on MorphOS for x64 (obviously only after the port to x64 has been released), I don't have a preference. Once we (hopefully) have more modern and powerful programming tools, which result in dozens of new and better software titles to run on MorphOS for x64, then I doubt I will keep any PPC systems to run MorphOS, unless I am also running some other retro software which will only run on PPC, that I want to continue using.
I'm pretty much not a "loyalist" when it comes to any computer OS, or hardware architecture. I only care about what my computer can run and how useful or fun that software is for me. Being easy to use and understand is also a big plus, which is why I am so fond of AmigaOS1.3 to AmigaOS3.9, and why I dislike Windows so much, and Linux & MacOSX to a lesser amount.
A-Eon's choice of case & CPU fans has not been very good so far, as the X1000 had the same complaints regarding fan noise. I'll probably eventually upgrade my X1000 fans to something less noisy and more efficient (or at least equally efficient), if/when I ever use it more often. I'm surprised Mark hasn't swapped out his noisy fans in his X5000, as it certainly must be much faster for using as a development platform than his SAM460.
