A-EON
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12136 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > Details known or implicity said are: 2 core ppc chip, not a 32 bit ppc and a SoC.
    > This rules virtually all other PPCs out exept the PA Semi PA1682.

    Yes, if these details are right, it must be PWRficient PA6T-1682, IMHO.

    The "Electra" eval board, just for reference:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20070821022627/pasemi.com/downloads/pa_semi_board_LOW_REZ.png

    And some other specs, just for reference:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20080804151811/http://www.amiga.com/news/index.php?art=28

    ;-)


    Edit: Made URL of Amiga Inc. press release point to Wayback Machine due to unavailability of amiga.com website.

    [ Edited by Andreas_Wolf on 2010/6/22 2:43 ]
  • »03.01.10 - 16:39
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    boot_wb
    Posts: 874 from 2007/4/9
    From: Kingston upon ...
    Quote:


    Fab wrote:
    Assuming the company designing that reference board is technically competent enough to give a proper product (which is a big "if"), I wish them luck to find a sustainable market. bPlan (who were quite competent and had a quite solid product) tried but finally had focus on something more profitable.



    Whilst I agree with you on this, it must be observed that when Genesi were selling the Pegasos 2, AmigaOS was not available and MorphOS was in 1.4.x stage.
    Now that these OSes are available in a more complete form, at least the Amiga-centric market can get on board now. Whether that will be enough fertilizer to make this seed grow remains to be seen.

    New PPC hardware must be welcomed though, especially if it is delivering a high-end processor, PCIe and SATA.

    I'm gratified to see the positive reaction this has had throughout the Amiga-centric community so far. It could potentially be very good news for all of our OSes.

    EDIT: corrected error

    [ Edited by boot_wb on 2010/1/3 21:30 ]
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  • »03.01.10 - 16:49
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  • MorphOS Developer
    Piru
    Posts: 587 from 2003/2/24
    From: finland, the l...
    Quote:

    Whether that will be enough fertilizer to make this seed grow

    I find it highly unlikely.
  • »03.01.10 - 16:56
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    SoundSquare
    Posts: 1213 from 2004/12/1
    From: Paris, France
    Quote:

    I'm gratified to see the positive reaction this has had throughout the Amiga-centric community so far. It could potentially be very good news for all of our OSes.


    yes indeed... or at least for one of them...

    Quote:

    We're concentrating on Mac hardware for now. This hardware is available and has a great performance/price ratio.



    at least until they come back on this blocking (and sad) statement.
  • »03.01.10 - 16:58
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12136 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > PCI-X

    Don't confuse PCI Express aka PCI-E/PCIe with PCI-X.
  • »03.01.10 - 16:59
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  • MorphOS Developer
    Piru
    Posts: 587 from 2003/2/24
    From: finland, the l...
    @SoundSquare
    Quote:

    Quote:

    We're concentrating on Mac hardware for now. This hardware is available and has a great performance/price ratio.

    at least until they come back on this blocking (and sad) statement.

    Excuse me?
  • »03.01.10 - 17:02
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  • Jim
  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Jim
    Posts: 4977 from 2009/1/28
    From: Delaware, USA
    It's fair to assume that they are serious and that they don't want to make the same mistake that Amiga Inc. has made in the past (announcing a product before it has even been designed).
    PA Semi doesn't seem that likely (as a source for processors). There are plenty of other products that a new design could use.
    We're in the same boat as everyone else, we're just going to have to wait for them to release more information (brilliant marketing the way they've gotten everyone talking).
    Right now. it's easy to understand the Morph team's focus on Apple G4 hardware. It's cheap and easily obtained (and the hardware is not that different - compared to the hardware MorphOS has been ported to before).
    No matter what A-EON comes out with, its likely that assembling a MorphOS/Mac system will cost less to put together.
    And for now, MorphOS performs better than AmigaOS. So, as long as AmigaOS isn't capable of handling 64bit processors or addressing more than one processor core, MorphOS has the advantage.
    "Never attribute to malice what can more readily explained by incompetence"
  • »03.01.10 - 17:22
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  • Just looking around
    Posts: 11 from 2008/9/24
    I just have to make this perfectly clear in case it's not already:

    1) I do think that MorphOS for G4 macs should be finalized before a new project is started.

    2) I think that Hyperion has credability, if A-EON is their puppy it'll hit the market. And I do think it'll be high specs. Now the cost is an open question....

    3) Yes it's way too soon to hear from the MorphOS team: Yes this is hardware we can run on.

    Now, what I'd just want to say for my own part, if I buy (another, I have Efika w/MorphOS) a Amiga NG system. I would really like it to dual boot between OS4 and MorphOS.
  • »03.01.10 - 17:28
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    SoundSquare
    Posts: 1213 from 2004/12/1
    From: Paris, France
    Quote:

    Excuse me?


    no offense, i only mean that the morphos team should keep a close eye on this, if there's an opportunity to find a better hardware than the old dusty macs then it should be considered.
    It's all about hardware avaibility, it's nice to have some cheap hardware semi-available (second, third hand market), but if there's something new coming, it may be interesting to support it and not leave the dancing bananas on the red camp.

    but yes, it's way too soon to talk about it.



    [ Edited by SoundSquare on 2010/1/3 18:45 ]
  • »03.01.10 - 17:44
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  • MorphOS Developer
    Piru
    Posts: 587 from 2003/2/24
    From: finland, the l...
    @SoundSquare
    Quote:

    opportunity to find a better hardware than the old dusty macs then it should be considered.

    If the price is 3-5 times of the similar level "dusty macs", I think it really isn't worth the effort.
    Quote:

    if there's something new coming, it may be interesting to support it and not leave the dancing bananas on the red camp.

    If the price will be in the ranges I believe it will be, I'll gladly let them have all the bananas they want. Just a CPU alone will be more than most Macs.

    [ Edited by Piru on 2010/1/3 20:23 ]
  • »03.01.10 - 18:21
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    boot_wb
    Posts: 874 from 2007/4/9
    From: Kingston upon ...
    Quote:


    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > PCI-X

    Don't confuse PCI Express aka PCI-E/PCIe with PCI-X.


    Noted and corrected. :-)
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  • »03.01.10 - 21:31
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    boot_wb
    Posts: 874 from 2007/4/9
    From: Kingston upon ...
    Quote:


    Piru wrote:
    Quote:

    Whether that will be enough fertilizer to make this seed grow

    I find it highly unlikely.


    So do I.
    It'll be interesting to see though, and I wish them luck. :-)
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  • »03.01.10 - 21:34
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    SoundSquare
    Posts: 1213 from 2004/12/1
    From: Paris, France
    @Piru

    Quote:

    If the price is 3-5 times of the similar level "dusty macs", I think it really isn't worth the effort.


    i think it is, if this new machine really gets released, even for a high price, i guess it will be bundled with OS4 and we'll probably see that the price/perf ratio won't be so good for the used mac + morphos licence. But i am only speculating, again it's too soon to get into that debate, we'll see when it's out and available.
  • »03.01.10 - 22:18
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    pampers
    Posts: 1061 from 2009/2/26
    From: Tczew, Poland
    Seriously... MorphOS on Mac is still very young. And there are complaints already that we want a new hardware when AmigaOS users has at the moment few pieces of puzzle?

    Come on guys. We have MorphOS 2.4 on Mac mini, there is development for PowerMacs and PowerBooks. When MorphOS was so strong as it is now?
    MorphOS 3.x
  • »03.01.10 - 22:21
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    Quote:


    SoundSquare wrote:
    @Piru

    Quote:

    If the price is 3-5 times of the similar level "dusty macs", I think it really isn't worth the effort.


    i think it is, if this new machine really gets released, even for a high price, i guess it will be bundled with OS4 and we'll probably see that the price/perf ratio won't be so good for the used mac + morphos licence. But i am only speculating, again it's too soon to get into that debate, we'll see when it's out and available.




    Yes, too early to start a debate about price/performance ratio difference between MorphOS2.4 on 1.5GHz G4 MacMini and A-Eon AmigaOne Power-X, but I can't see them producing that mobo for less than the SAM440 cost, so it will likely still be at least 2 times the expense of a used G4 MacMini with a MorphOS2.4 license included, maybe 3x.

    I seriously doubt that the new AmigaOne Power-X will have 2x to 3x the performance of my 1.5GHz G4 MacMini running MorphOS2.4.

    But a new Amiga motherboard design is interesting and is definitely causing a lot of speculation and discussion.
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »03.01.10 - 22:26
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    amigadave
    Posts: 2795 from 2006/3/21
    From: Northern Calif...
    Quote:


    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > Details known or implicity said are: 2 core ppc chip, not a 32 bit ppc and a SoC.
    > This rules virtually all other PPCs out exept the PA Semi PA1682.

    Yes, if these details are right, it must be PWRficient PA6T-1682, IMHO.

    The "Electra" eval board, just for reference:

    http://web.archive.org/web/20070821022627/pasemi.com/downloads/pa_semi_board_LOW_REZ.png

    And some other specs, just for reference:

    http://www.amiga.com/news/index.php?art=28

    ;-)


    Looks like a very good guess to me. Could it be that Hyperion has contracted with a hardware company to redesign the pa-semi board linked above to add a FPGA near the slots for what ever purpose and end up with the AmigaOne Power-X? Maybe ACK took his preliminary designs to Hyperion and talked them into backing production of them?

    [ Edited by amigadave on 2010/1/3 14:45 ]
    MorphOS - The best Next Gen Amiga choice.
  • »03.01.10 - 22:38
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  • MorphOS Developer
    itix
    Posts: 1520 from 2003/2/24
    From: Finland
    It wasnt that far away when it was suggested MorphOS should be ported to SAM :-)
    1 + 1 = 3 with very large values of 1
  • »03.01.10 - 22:41
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    @ pampers

    Yes, MorphOs is quite on track, but it is also very interesting to see what the other competing side is doing now. And while in recent months there was little progress or good news on their side, it seems they made a progress now. And the way they set it in scene is not too lousy. They gain the interest they planned to gain.
    What enevtually will come out of this theatre play is another story. But I doubt there are many butterfly fellows out there who don't have at least a remote interest what the other camp is doing (for whatever reason this interest may be motivated).
    And personally I am quite curious whether they will provide a hardware with the PA 1682 - which is said nobody can get get hold of. A little speculating can be entertaining, but I doubt things in Amigaland which change over night radically and with the *now* available MorphOS 2.4 there is not much to fear.
    And I am very interested (and highly (highest!) sceptical) what they will present on the software side: Do they have a solution for SMP, will or have they they boxed their OS? If it is the PA Sei chip: how do they support 64 bit? What about gfx drivers - there are only PCIe slots on the board, so they need drivers for more recent gfx chips? Many things unresolved.
    --
    http://via.bckrs.de

    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »03.01.10 - 22:45
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  • Just looking around
    Posts: 11 from 2008/9/24
    @Pampers

    I agree. MorphOS is very strong atm with the MacMini. It's brilliant, and it'll get even better when the rest of the G4 macs get support.

    And I do understand that it's too early to say "yes" or "no" to MorphOS on the A-EON, as you rightly point out, it's nothing more than a sales pitch atm. And it could happen that the board only is available as a bundle.

    However, I think that a lot of users like myself would love to save some deskspace by having one box, all our os' on. I rather have a QuemuPPC installable version of OS4 and MorphOS, but I consider that just as likely as a merging of MorphOS and OS4 (Not that nessecarily wanted, just an example of something very unlikely - like flying pigs, also not nessecarily wanted ). :-)
  • »03.01.10 - 23:04
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    CountRaven
    Posts: 566 from 2007/12/11
    From: Greece
    I would love to see that new board running both MorphOS and AOS4 after all. But lets wait and see the details of this new product first.
  • »03.01.10 - 23:07
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12136 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > If it is the PA Sei chip: how do they support 64 bit?

    The PA6T also has a 32 bit mode, just like the PPC970.

    > there are only PCIe slots on the board

    Look closer, please :-)
  • »03.01.10 - 23:20
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    Quote:


    Andreas_Wolf wrote:
    > If it is the PA Sei chip: how do they support 64 bit?

    The PA6T also has a 32 bit mode, just like the PPC970.

    > there are only PCIe slots on the board

    Look again, please :-)


    Oh, you're correct on the ports - I indeed oversaw the pci 33 MHz slot, the Xorro one I just dind't mention because it is nothing regular.
    And yes, the PA has a 32 bit mode, but if going 64 bit, then use 64 bit. Hence my question: How will they provide 64 bit support?
    --
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    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »03.01.10 - 23:38
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Andreas_Wolf
    Posts: 12136 from 2003/5/22
    From: Germany
    > I indeed oversaw the pci 33 MHz slot

    There are even 2 of them :-)

    > the Xorro one I just dind't mention because it is nothing regular.

    I didn't allude to that one.

    > How will they provide 64 bit support?

    Maybe they won't? That's what I wanted to get across. But if they will, they could do it like AROS did :-)
  • »04.01.10 - 00:11
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  • MorphOS Developer
    cyfm
    Posts: 537 from 2003/4/11
    From: Germany
    With a track record of Ben Hermans at bashing MorphOS (e.g. see http://pastebay.com/80143, found this via google search btw ..) and him involved in that company, it is extremely unlikely that MorphOS team will ever support any A-EON products. At least not with me participating ....
    So yes, there is something blocking such a port in principle as originally asked in that thread.


    [ Editiert durch pega-1 an 2010/1/4 2:12 ]
  • »04.01.10 - 01:09
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    Zylesea
    Posts: 2057 from 2003/6/4
    @ Pega-1

    With ppc being a rather dead end anyway (I doubt a handful of PA boards will change that), I think you are best off with getting ready to do the architecture switch soon, now that we have plenty of Apple gear to bridge the time until you provide us with an architecture independent solution ;-).
    Okay, if the 8610 board by Codex/bplan/community sees the light of day it would be fun to see that one supported, too. But the unevitable is on due anyway I'd say...
    --
    http://via.bckrs.de

    Whenever you're sad just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie.
    ...and Matthias , my friend - RIP
  • »04.01.10 - 01:26
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