HiQ is pleased to announce "Project Alpha" which is an ongoing project to integrate the Amiga system with the Alpha processor. Already we are at stage one, the Siamese RTG Software v2.5 which is Alpha and PC compatible. Following on from this we are determined to see the AmigaOS ported fully to this powerful chip over the coming 18 months whilst retaining backward compatibility. For those who have not heard about the Siamese System please check out our web site.  

For those who own Amigas and Alpha/PC's you can be part of this now by purchasing the existing Siamese RTG v2.5 software and a suitable Ethernet pack. If you plan to go all the way with us to Stage 6 then you can take many of your existing suitable Amiga components with you, eg. 040/060 Processor, Ram, Drives, Siamese RTG software, Monitors etc.    

The "Project Alpha" plan of action is as follows.  

Stage one.  
Shipping Now!  

Siamese RTG System v2.5 links existing Amiga s via Ethernet to any Alpha machine including the new range supplied by HiQ www.siamese.co.uk.  For those who have not heard about the Siamese system please also check out our web site.  

Stage two.  
Shipping Q1 1998.  

Supplying Alphas to Amiga and Ex Amiga owning customers with one of the following optional additions, or supplying existing Alpha users with these products:-   

(a)  Adding the Siamese RTG System v2.5 and an Ethernet connection kit to join the Amiga and Alpha in a seamless link.  
   
(b)  Adding Index Information ltd "Access" Amiga units which are complete Amiga s in a 5.25" drive bay, linked via Ethernet to the Alpha / PC and giving the Digital Video based Alpha access to the Amiga s Analogue Video system to create a combined Analogue / Digital hybrid system.  
   
(c)  Supply an additional Amiga Boxer system for the US Video Toaster market if not already owned, to create the ultimate NTSC Video and 3D studio system with the accent on integration.  
   
(d)  Supply Amiga Forever as a free add on to encourage the non Amiga owning Alpha customer back to the Amiga once more, this will give the performance of around a 50mhz 68030 based Amiga. Once they grow accustomed to the Amiga way of doing things they can upgrade to Stage three.  

Stage Three  
In final development, but taking advanced orders now.  
Shipping in Q2- 3.  

Designed around the "Inside Out" PCI based Amiga on a card from Index Information ltd and the Siamese RTG v2.5 Software from HiQ Limited, this System would create the ultimate Amiga and Alpha combined Multi-OS machine on the planet and all "Powered By Amiga". 

Full Amiga 680x0 backward compatibility with AmigaOS v2.0+.  
    On board Amiga AGA chip set running up to 30% faster than existing chip set.  
Motorola 68040 or 68060 onboard  with speeds up to 75mhz, depending on  
    Chip used.  
Amiga PCI card design gives access to PCI bus on PC/Alpha motherboard.  
    Communication between Amiga processor and Alpha/PC chip and PCI boards  
    is at PCI bus speeds.  
Amiga gets access to the latest high speed graphics cards and can use the latest  
    drivers.  
Amiga gets full blown OpenGL 3D graphics.  
Amiga gets Mpeg, AVI, Quicktime etc. Video.  
Amiga has access to low cost, less than £200 in price, Digital video Recording  
    cards.    
Amiga gets 16bit Sound and access to Wave Audio system at last via AHI.  
The Amiga can run Macintosh software on high speed graphics cards.  
The new Amiga Integrates seamlessly with the WindowsNT operating system  
    to create a robust and easy to use Amiga / Macintosh / Windows system.  
Alpha speed available at up to 767mhz by Quarter two.  
Alpha/PC gets an Amiga Video slot to run the Video Toaster direct from the  
     Alpha/PC.  
Truly a Multi-OS and Multi Processor system for the first time.  
     680x0 based Macintosh users can get a huge performance increase and migrate  
     to NT.  
This system is running NOW over Ethernet in stage , and this version will be a  
     True "one box solution".  

Stage 4  
AmigaOS to Alpha Porting Plan.  
Starts Q2  

We aim to Launch the "Project Alpha" porting plans as soon as we ship stage three, this is because it starts the entire ball rolling with the first goal of creating an Alpha that is fully backward compatible with the Amiga. Once the Amiga is ported it will leap frog any other Processor in one jump.  
Obviously the main advantage of this route is that the user has a machine that can run Amiga, Windows, MSDos, and Macintosh software from one incredibly powerful and economical system. This system is aimed at the serious Amiga user and not the budget user today, however the Alpha is coming down in price and once the porting is complete we expect to have a base machine for around £1500 which is what an average PC costs today. This is a realistic target unlike a lot of other so called new Amiga s which will not appear.  

Porting Time scale, (very approximate).  
Starts from where Stage 3 finishes.  

Stage 5  
At Q3- 4  
   
Once this system is shipping, all Users who purchased the Alpha upgrade path license package will receive their first upgrade. This will include sections that can be removed from the Amiga OS control fairly easily and handed over to the Alpha to speed them up. Graphics, Sound file handling etc.  

Improvements to some functions like the maths functions and additions to OS, to allow software to call Alpha Maths libraries etc. to speed up floating point operations.  
  

Stage 6  
At Q1-2 of 1999  

Once finished the entire OS will be Alpha based and only using the Amiga Card for software that relies on the Amiga Custom Chip set, and Video Toaster type Applications.   

   
All the best for the Future  

Stephen Jones  
HiQ Limited