Wish I could be there David.
Sounds like an impressive display.
Post some photos if you can.

BTW- That FireGL card is still working?
Cool.

Quote:

Hi Jim,

Yes, the FireGLX3 Radeon card you sent me is still working, thanks!

The G5 does not seem to want to boot this morning though. It is displaying the same symptoms I saw last night after the new installation of MorphOS3.9.

1st boot attempt this morning worked with no problems, but I shut it down to setup the WNCE2001 Ethernet bridge, so I could connect to the Internet and register MorphOS for this system, and it booted to just a blank Amibient screen with only the top border and no response from the mouse or keyboard, and no mouse pointer. The next 2 boot attempts result in nothing but a black screen.

Is anyone else having similar problems with MorphOS3.9 on their G5 PowerMac?

Perhaps I replied too quickly about the video card. I am now wondering if the FireGLX3 has died. My last several attempts to boot the G5 have resulted in zero screen activity (black screen).

I am happy to report that with the help of the excellent boot from USB guide on the MorphOS website, I was able to upgrade to MorphOS3.9 on my 1.5GHz G4 MacMini, even though the optical drive appears to have stopped working, or just can't read any CD written on another system.

In fact, I am writing this message from that system.

No time to waste, on to the Efika and G4 PowerMac, before I go back to the G5 to see if I can get it going again. Only a couple more days to get everything ready and setup for the show.

Show report for the first day of Amiga30 in California:

I am happy to report that I was able to register my Dual 2.7GHz G5 PowerMac tower and received the key file before the show began this morning (thank you Frank for expediting the sending of this key file and dealing with the problem of having to use the Reg Tool twice because Earthlink.net does strange things with emails sent from certain servers).

This allowed me to use the G5 tower all day at the dedicated MorphOS display table, without needing to reboot it every 30 minutes. The G5 is connected to a 37" LCD TV monitor, to grab the attention of anyone walking by the table, and it has worked well. I also had my 17" 1.67GHz G4 PowerBook on that table, plus my 1.5GHz G4 MacMini and over-clocked 1.6GHz G4 PowerMac tower at the History Tables positioned in the correct order with all the rest of the Classic Amiga's and a few NG AmigaOS4.x and AROS systems.

The attendance at the show has been greater than expected, with sales of tickets in excess of 400, and possibly up to as many as 450. This is not a free show, where we can't be sure how many people have attended, as they wander into and out of the show space. Each person attending the show had to buy a ticket prior to arriving at the Computer History Museum, or they could buy a ticket at the door if they did not find out about the show until some time over the last few days. It took a great effort of over two dozen volunteers, working days and nights for over two months, to finally get everything set up and ready for the show to begin, with many of those people working until 4am the night before the show started.

I have to tip my hat to Trevor Dickinson, not only for his generous support of the event with sponsorship dollars, but also for his hard work packing and moving and unpacking and moving again into the museum, hundreds of boxes and monitors and computer cases. He is definitely not your typical company owner and did not hesitate to get his hands dirty and help out with all of the work that needed to be completed.

The banquet dinner was good food for all, but as usual when you get hundreds of Amiga users, developers, engineers and former users, developers, and engineers of the Amiga in the same room together, it was very entertaining. Specially the group of original Amiga employee's, who had so many great stories to share with all of us.

My day started at 6am, getting up early, so I could get into the museum around 7am to finish setting up the many computers of mine that were used to display the history of the Amiga, and to display on the dedicated MorphOS table. I did not leave until all the stories were finished after dinner around 10:20pm. I also want to thank Bill Bosari, the show's main organizer, who gave me a free table dedicated just for MorphOS.

It was a great day, and I think that the computer show was a huge success! The display of so many proto-type Amiga systems and parts, as well as the first A1000 ever produced (serial number 1), and many other unique items and artwork, really made the show something that will likely never be duplicated again.

One great surprise for me was the attendance to the show of Moya Jackie, aka Cammy, who traveled with one or two friends all the way from Australia, to attend this event. Any of you MorphOS users within the USA and Canada, or Mexico who did not attend this event should be somewhat ashamed that you did not make more of an effort to make it to this show, when you realize that "Cammy", who has a very limited income, made the effort to be here. It was a pleasure to meet her in person, after knowing her for so long through the many Amiga forums, as well as some IRC chats. She is a great supporter of all things related to the Amiga.

Hopefully some of you were able to watch many of the speakers who did presentations throughout the day on stage. I hope also that a few people here at the show were video taping each presentation, so they can be posted to YouTube, or some other pl
ace, where MorphOS, AROS and AmigaOS users can watch them later, if they were not able to watch them streamed live (I missed most of the presentations, while I was working at setting up, or adjusting the several computer systems of mine that were used for the show).

I expect tomorrow to be just as good and have possibly even higher attendance numbers than we had today, but I will be glad when it is over, so I can get some rest and more sleep than I have had these last several nights.

To my knowledge, there has not been anything new announced by A-Eon, or Hyperion, than what has already been announced previously over the last few weeks. I will report more after the show ends tomorrow evening.

Thanks for the report, Dave. I hope someone will post photos of your table set up.

Quote:

I'll try to get some posted soon, but it might be a few days before I can do so. The show is over now, and my car is so full, packed all the way to the ceiling that it has become a 1 passenger car and I can barely see my right side mirror over the boxes, forget about seeing out the back of the car with the rear view mirror.

I am exhausted and very sore, but the work is still not done. Tomorrow morning I must return to Dale Luck's house to help unload the huge trailer and U-Haul rental truck that were used to transport everything to the museum.

The show was a huge success, and all of the engineers, programmers, and business types who made the original Amiga come to life 30 years ago, were genuinely thankful and very appreciative for all the effort and care that went into making this event happen. Most of them had not seen each other for over 20 years, so it was like a big reunion for them to get together and share old stories of the good times they had at Hi-Toro, and later at Amiga and then Commodore.

I was extremely pleased to see that Moya Jackie, better known as "Cammy" on many Amiga forum sites, was able to attend with her friend Adam(?) aka Rebel, who flew all the way from Australia to attend this special "once-in-a-lifetime" event. Cammy showed up in full costume, to the delight of many other show attendees and organizers. Many other people came from as far away as Italy and many other countries. The widows of Amiga employees who had passed away came to honor their late husbands, saying that they would not have missed this show for the world.

That banquet dinner that I wrote about in my previous message might not have been quite as "Good" as I had thought, as I found myself waking up at 3am in a terrible state which lasted for several hours. I have no idea what caused that condition, but maybe my particular piece of chicken was under-cooked, I'll never know. Anyway, after a late start this morning due to my lack of sleep and severe cramps and discomfort, I finally made my way to the show floor again around Noon, but I had texted one of the other organizers of the show and asked them to turn on all of my systems before the show started.

I don't know how many people attended before noon, but the afternoon attendance was probably only half of what we had seen on Saturday. Still a good amount of people, but not the crowd we had the previous day, which is understandable for people who are not active members of the Amiga scene these days.

In my haste to pack for this event, I somehow forgot my charger for my digital camera, so I was only able to take a few pictures before it ran low on power and turned itself off. I took several cell phone pictures today, but I am hoping that other people will post much better pictures than the ones I have. We will see, if none are posted within the next few days, I will post mine.

Getting back to my earlier statement that I would not be able to post pictures soon because there is still work to do, tomorrow will probably be several hours of unpacking and sorting boxes and items at Dale Luck's house, then time for good-bye's and I will be driving the 5 to 6 hours to get home, where I will collapse for at least a day and then unpack my car.

FYI, Jeri Elsworth had a table and was demonstrating the CastVR system and glases. FriendUP guys were there, and sponsored part of the show, which was greatly appreciated, as the museum space rental was very expensive. Someone named Aaron brought a truck load of Amiga gear to sell during the show, and seemed to be doing well for a while, but in the end I doubt he sold 1/4 of what he had brought with him. I bought some old magazines, a few CD's, a 23pin to 15pin video adapter, and a pair of digital video cameras that I will use with my Amiga Video Toaster/Flyer system as studio camera inputs on the switcher.

The G5 worked well most of the time and looked great hooked up to the 37" TV LCD I had brought to use on the dedicated MorphOS table. I tried to get a new poster made before and during the show, but it didn't happen. The guy making the posters said he would still make me one free or at a low cost of just the paper and a few dollars for the ink used to make it, so I would have a new poster for the next AmiWest show, but I won't count on it until I see it completed and in my hands. Sorry that the MorphOS display table did not look better, or more professional, but at least there was a MorphOS table at the show, and many people did come by and look at it. There were also 2 MorphOS systems on display on the "History Tables" (a MacMini and my over-clocked G4 PowerMac tower) which were arranged in a long rectangle with the beginning displaying the A1000 and models of the Amiga and other Amiga-Like systems progressing chronologically around the rectangle and ending up with an X5000 system. I could not find my Efika and may have lost it, if I don't find it tomorrow at Dale Luck's house.

Occasionally, the G5 would not boot, or would freeze halfway through the booting process, but most of the time it and the G4 PowerBook worked great. The AirPort card in the PowerBook found and connected to the museum's wireless network with no problems, so it was able to run OWB for anyone wanting to try it out.

That is all to report, though I am sure I have left out a great deal. The show was so huge and so much was always happening throughout both days, it is too much to tell in a forum message. Other's will add to what I have written, and I will add more later, but now it is time for sleep.

> business types who made the original Amiga come to life 30 years ago

Who of those business types from mid-80s was there at the show?

Quote:

Sorry, I can't remember their names, but there were a few who were not software or hardware experts, but helped out with the business end of the organization prior to being bought by Commodore, as well as some Commodore business types who were at the beginning when the Amiga was first purchased. By "business types", I just mean people who did other things other than design hardware, or write code most of the time. Some of them may have had some part in writing software as well, but that does not seem to have been their primary jobs.

A couple of them gave a short talk during the day, but I did not get to watch, or hear it, as I was busy elsewhere. They wanted to give some perspective on the tasks that needed to be done, and share some of their memories of what happened back 30 years ago, to give contrast to all the software and hardware stories that were being shared by others.

David Morse was the primary guy in the beginning who took care of the business end of things, and his widow was in attendance during the show and the banquet dinner. Robert Peck's widow was also there, and I sat next to her at the banquet dinner. From what I understand of what was said, Peck wrote much of the early documentation & manuals for the Amiga. Peck and Morse may have also written code, but it seems that they are mostly remembered for other tasks.

[ Edited by amigadave 27.07.2015 - 13:52 ]

>>> business types who made the original Amiga come to life 30 years ago

>> Who of those business types from mid-80s was there at the show?

> there were a few who were not software or hardware experts, but helped out with the
> business end of the organization prior to being bought by Commodore, as well as some
> Commodore business types who were at the beginning when the Amiga was first
> purchased. [...] A couple of them gave a short talk during the day

The official show schedule does not seem to have any of them mentioned, hence my question.

> Peck wrote much of the early documentation & manuals for the Amiga.

I don't consider technical writers as "business types".

Quote:

See my revised definition of what I meant by "business types" (=not hardware designer, or software developer). Business Type was not the best choice of words, but that is what I chose based on one story from the person who accompanied David Morse to Atari to drop off the $500,000 check to repay the loan, and save Amiga from becoming only a technology (virtually stolen) to be used or incorporated into the Atari computers.

Edit:

That is the first time I have looked at the show schedule. I am pretty sure that there were many more people who showed up and volunteered to give a short talk during either day of the show, so don't go strictly by who is listed on that schedule. There were many things about the show that were changed and very fluid. As problems arose, solutions were implemented, as happens at many such events. Tim Jennison was not listed, but even though I did not see him, several other people did, and I would be very surprised if he did not speak for at least a few minutes some time during the day he was at the show.

[ Edited by amigadave 27.07.2015 - 14:35 ]

>> I don't consider technical writers as "business types".

> See my revised definition of what I meant by "business types" (=not hardware designer,
> or software developer). Business Type was not the best choice of words

A bad choice of words, in fact, if it was meant to include professions such as technical writing. I think what most people would refer to as "business types" are members of middle to high management of a company. There are some more professions involved in running a hardware/software company than hardware engineering, software engineering and managing. Technical writing is just one example.

> that is what I chose based on one story from the person who accompanied David Morse

Morse was a "business type", yes, but I don't understand the relevance.

> I am pretty sure that there were many more people who showed up and volunteered to give a
> short talk during either day of the show, so don't go strictly by who is listed on that schedule.

Thanks for clarification.

Quote:

When I wrote my original forum message that included the "business type" description, I was thinking of the business type person (I think his name was Bill Hart), who is a self described "business suit". That is why I chose the words "business type". The relevance is that Bill Hart had shared the story of himself and David Morse taking the $500,000 check to Atari, or had you chosen to forget that part of my earlier messages?

You can rightly criticize me for including Robert Peck as a business type, but that is only a difference of opinion on what the correct definition of business type is, which is different for you, than it is for me.

> When I wrote my original forum message that included the "business type" description,
> I was thinking of the business type person (I think his name was Bill Hart), who is
> a self described "business suit". That is why I chose the words "business type".

Thank you for clarification. Is there anything about him on the WWW?

Edit:
found something recent: "Bill Hart [...] was the Amiga's first salvation, shall we say. He came in and invested in the Amiga to continue it when money was running out."
http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/computer-history-museum-to-host-rare-amiga-prototypes-1299687

Edit2:
Hart's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDkFDs459uk

> The relevance is that Bill Hart had shared the story of himself and David Morse taking the
> $500,000 check to Atari, or had you chosen to forget that part of my earlier messages?

No, I had not chosen to forget anything. My lacking English skills made me parse your sentence ("[...] that is what I chose based on one story from the person who accompanied David Morse [...]") as meaning that Bill Hart was referring only to Morse as "business type", not including himself in this description. Knowing that Morse couldn't possibly be at the show in person, I was not clear about the relevance. It's clear now. Thanks.

> that is only a difference of opinion on what the correct definition of business type
> is, which is different for you, than it is for me.

As I gave my definition already, what is your definition of a "business type"?

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 29.07.2015 - 22:36 ]

Quote:

From Trevor Dickinson´s blog: "Don Ressinger, Amiga marketing & sales and even Bill Hart, the original Amiga Corp VC"

>> Who of those business types from mid-80s was there at the show?

> From Trevor Dickinson´s blog:
> "Don Ressinger, Amiga marketing & sales and even Bill Hart, the original Amiga Corp VC"

Thanks.

Yep, thanks for the summary David.
Even if your report increases my regret at not attending.

And much thanks for representing MorphOS.