8610 is based off the e600 core & close to design of the ( essentially same as ) MPC744x & MPC864x, according to Freescale Fact Sheet. Pegasos G4 uses MPC7447 so MorphOS shouldn't have trouble working on this CPU.

The biggest thing against PowerPC CPUs is price. That is why this architecture is dying out. To illustrate this, I'll briefly compare the 8610 & 5200.

The best things ( in terms of performance ) about the 8610 is that it brings a higher speed of 1333 MHz, Altivec, 4 Integer Units & 256KB L2 Cache.

5200B in comparison does not have Altivec, max speed of 400 MHz, 1 Integer Unit & no L2 Cache.

MPC5200B ( Efika1 processor ) sells for just under $20 wholesale.

MPC8610 will sell for $176 wholesale from Freescale and processor availability happens in mid 2008. Wholesale prices obtained from Freescale site.

Notice the big price difference!

The problem is the processor cost for PowerPC. If Genesi does use the 8610 in their upcoming board, after Efika2, then I can only imagine what their boards will end up costing.

The fault lies with IBM & Freescale for not having more competitive pricing to x86 processors. I can go to the computer store & buy Athlon 64 X2 4000 EE for $70 retail. So, it makes me wonder why PowerPC CPUs are not coming down in price.

At least Genesi made a smart move by producing Efika which allowed people to get a lower end system to play with MorphOS. Efika2 ( & LimePC ) will have somewhat better specs than Efika1. So, will be cool to see what happens with them. And let's not forget the Mac Mini too.