Why no new accelerators?

[mjnurney]

With the cheap modern electronics everywhere, why haven't we seen new Amiga accelerators? Yes I know jens is making A1200 / 600 accelerators but why don't we see a glut of them or maybe new ppc / cold fire or what ever IBM are making now ?

Triple core a1200 accelerator anyone?

After all the ps3/Xbox 360 are ppc 3 ghz units..

Of course the would need a fan inside the 1200

Why haven't the Apollo / dce / blizzard specs and firmware been released in to the wild? With enough interest I would of thought new 060 or ppc boards would be very welcome. Especially with the life cycle of the products now. They are not getting younger.


Amigakit have offered to look into the costing and development of new 060 accelerators if they get 400 interested people. So please vote here to show your interest. Amigakit may also make take registrations from interested people later.

 

[cosmicfrog]

Its just not fair

 

[davideo]

I would guess that it is a lack of demand

Dave G

 

[mjnurney]

Yes could be , cost of development too I expect but jens has made his 030 accelerators..

I just wish we could get some new accelerators on the miggy. 060/ppc , let's face it an 060 is only a quick 486 speed

 

[Justin]

Jens hates the Apollos (he owns the designs) but he won't release them as he says as each Apollo dies the Amiga community is a better place.



---------- Post added at 13:49 ---------- Previous post was at 13:48 ----------

Yes could be , cost of development too I expect but jens has made his 030 accelerators..

I just wish we could get some new accelerators on the miggy. 060/ppc , let's face it an 060 is only a quick 486 speed

pah!! mines faster than a Pentium

 

[mjnurney]

Without hardware , software will not appear.

Imagine a new 060/ or ppc being released, it could lead to all kinds of new software appearing.

Web browser , DVD player , 3d games etc

---------- Post added at 13:53 ---------- Previous post was at 13:51 ----------

You mean your intel Amiga Justin? Lol

Oh right I didn't know jens has the apollo stuff, so why isn't he making 060s ?

 

[Justin]

wheres the point?

why would you need one why??

there is a new (well i say new but i mean obselete) cpu in the X1000 and so you believe that with this new CPU there will be a glut of new software and users? nope

the only way we will see software growth the when the OS4 developers get their priorities right and recomplie 0s4 for X86. massive user base already in place, no high production costs for custom hardware.

More users = more software, not new CPUs m8y

---------- Post added at 14:13 ---------- Previous post was at 14:12 ----------

Without hardware , software will not appear.

Imagine a new 060/ or ppc being released, it could lead to all kinds of new software appearing.

Web browser , DVD player , 3d games etc

---------- Post added at 13:53 ---------- Previous post was at 13:51 ----------

You mean your intel Amiga Justin? Lol no i mean my 060@80 that is quicker than a Pentium 1 (a low one btw)


Oh right I didn't know jens has the apollo stuff, so why isn't he making 060s ?

Lol no i mean my 060@80 that is quicker than a Pentium 1 (a low one btw:laugh

 

[roy_bates]

maybe because the 060 and ppc cards would be too expensive to develop?

cant imagine them going for less than say 3-400 a pop.(060 no ppc)

 

[Cosmos]

- I'm dreaming about building a new accelerator 68060@95 rev6 with DDR2, but I don't have the full knowledge today...

What is your favorite name ? The Destroyer ? The Ultimate ? The Razorback ? The Revenge ? The Punisher ?


Anyone here to help me ?

 

[mjnurney]

Nope I disagree ( you'll be surprised to here)

No one will buy the x1000 because it's too expensive and if OS 4 / 5 is ported to x86 then we may as well dump the Amiga in bin and use a laptop to run the os. But then again we may as well use winuae.

No the only option for the classic Amiga is new accelerators and 90% of those in use ,use 020 and ram for whdload or maybe 030 and they won't run any decent software.

But.

If we had 060 or ppc as common place as the 030, then more software would appear or at the very least more conversion of pc software would appear.

You know it makes sense Rodney.

---------- Post added at 14:23 ---------- Previous post was at 14:22 ----------

@cosmos


The ultimate! 060

Hurry up I want to order one!

 

[roy_bates]

I'm dreaming about building a new accelerator 68060@95 rev6 with DDR2, but I don't have the full knowledge today...

What is your favorite name ? The Destroyer ? The Ultimate ? The Razorback ? The Revenge ? The Punisher ?


Anyone here to help me ?

ha ha nice one,


im thinking 060 with adjustable clock between 50-110mhz(in hardware),takes pc100-133 mem at sizes of 64-512mb in one slot.


and call it <put fitting name here>


yeah,but who's going to pay 3-400 pounds for it?

 

[tokyoracer]

2 Reasons...

Firstly, cost. Building accelerators in small numbers isn't cheap and often has to be done by hand. Remember this commumity is nothing more then a niche when it comes to selling new hardware/software. I heard in the grapevine that Jens made very little (or possibly even a loss) on the accelerators he made and they were not exactly cheap as chips.

Secondly, whats the point? If you want a powerful Amiga then either overclock your machine or get one of them new fangled towers theyt seem to release on a yearly basis. If modern hardware was made to work on such an old motherboard (actually another point come to think of it!) then think what compatability issues you would get. . .

No one will buy the x1000 because it's too expensive and if OS 4 / 5 is ported to x86 then we may as well dump the Amiga in bin and use a laptop to run the os. But then again we may as well use winuae.

The X1000 isn't cheap but even though I know little about hardware design like this, I should think the sort of accelerator you are dreaming up won't be any cheaper that's for sure. If you want a modern Amiga(ish) computer then like I say, you would be better off with one of them.

 

[mjnurney]

who's going to pay 3 / 4 hundred pounds for it? Very few I expect but that's what all accelerators will cost in ten years as the stock of our current lot dries up.

If you think an 060 is expensive now. Just wait ten years

 

[SpodSpod]

No one, the same lot who are able to afford the absurd prices the high end 060/ppc cards go for now but no one else in their right might could or would be interested in putting down that much.

90% of the users out there need some RAM and maybe a litte more punch in their 600s or 1200s to make the WHDLoad experience that bit better. Jens recognised this and provided.

What we need is an affordably priced Natami or something to slot into our existing cases to replace all the components within with something that is not likely to break down more than it works. Something without leaking caps and dry joints, etc.

 

[AndyLandy]

The problem is that it's not cheap to develop new Amiga hardware. The biggest sticking point, as far as I can tell, is that most components are 3.3v these days, whereas you need 5v stuff for most Amigas. Also, trying to source 68k-series CPUs isn't exactly easy...

 

[mjnurney]

Now this I do agree with. If accelerators won't happen then replacent motherboards are unlikely but didn't jens say he was working on a new chipset or replacement chipset ...

---------- Post added at 14:51 ---------- Previous post was at 14:49 ----------

I agree Andy 68x stuff must going to the land fill at a quick old rate as the years go by.

Don't Motorola / Freescale do a cheap 68x CPU anymore?

 

[roy_bates]

No one, the same lot who are able to afford the absurd prices the high end 060/ppc cards go for now but no one else in their right might could or would be interested in putting down that much.

90% of the users out there need some RAM and maybe a litte more punch in their 600s or 1200s to make the WHDLoad experience that bit better. Jens recognised this and provided.

What we need is an affordably priced Natami or something to slot into our existing cases to replace all the components within with something that is not likely to break down more than it works. Something without leaking caps and dry joints, etc.

true,its a supply and demand market.

but then again the power users are stuck with hardware over ten years old and with memory limits in some cases.



but everyone has to bear in mind that when 060 cards came out in the first place they where already selling for over 300 and over 500 for ppc cards.

 

[mjnurney]

Dont Freescale make low power ppc CPUs anymore?

 

[StrontiumDog]

Just buy an FPGA Replay board

Cheap to buy
It's got built-in acceleration
Built-in flickerfixer/scandoubler
modern day memory
it's upgradable
small footprint
Can run all Amiga software in ADF format so no need for WHDLoad
Eject the SD card, slot in a new one with a different core and hey presto, it's a C64 or whatever other cores are available.

Sorry Jens, I know you've done loads for the community but unless you are willing to run your products off in larger than usual batches, people will begin to look elsewhere. Natami and Replay seem to be the modern day equivalents of the Amiga range and at present, I believe thats the way the future lies.

 

[Cosmos]

- Any positive posts ?