PowerPC-based "Classic Amiga" systems
In the dramatic events of the World of Amiga show 1998, it became obvious
that the PowerPC was being left out by Amiga, Inc in their plan to redevelop
the Amiga. Unless acted on quickly the PowerPC boards and systems that
were in development at the time would disappear. Why would anyone buy a
PPC Amiga if it was not capable of running the next generation AmigaOS?
On the final day of the show Haage & Partner and Phase 5 buried their
differences and announced their partnership in developing a standard PPC
implementation. They stated,
"We will ensure that users of the PowerUP system have a
transparent integration of their PowerPC and will see a rich variety of
the most powerful applications released soon."
The partnership for current and future PowerUp systems resulted in the
software kernel for development of the PowerUP software being solely handled
by Haage & Partner whilst Phase 5 produce and market the boards. For
future PPC- Amigas, a proposal was submitted and authorised by Amiga Inc
for an alternative to the Amiga Bridge system.
The development of a PowerPC-based system that will use the AmigaOS 4 and
5.
Since that time a lot has happened but Amiga users are still no nearer
to possessing a next generation Classic Amiga. Hopefully this will change
with the release of the Amiga OE during the
year 2000. The development of the BoXeR seems to be the only viable development
of the Amiga technology at the moment. Other developments, such as the
G3 A5000 simply appear to be uprated A1200 motherboards. The BoXeR redesigns
the technology, at last fitting AGA on one chip and getting rid of the
frustrating Chip RAM limitation. Bottlenecks caused by the use of 1992
technology have been removed and the implementation of standardized industrial
components, ranging from Parallel ports to PCI bring the Classic Amiga
technology up to date. The adoption of WarpUP as the standard PowerPC kernel
in AmigaOS 3.5 will hopefully end the hostility between the, now dead PowerUP
and WarpUP. A number of companies are also working upon G3 and G4 implementations,
allowing WarpUP software to run even faster. 68k emulation has also been
promised by both Phase 5 and Haage & Partner, finally ridding the Amiga
of the costly 68k processor. At the moment the emulation question is rather
hazy. Unless both companies are able to produce a highly advanced version
of UAE or perform a miracle, the 68k emulation will be as the name suggests-
an emulation of the processor but not the custom chips.
What about new hardware and operating system?
1) PowerPC-native AmigaOS
If AmigaOS 3.5 does sell 20,000 copies then the AmigaOS will be rewritten
for PowerPC-native systems. unlike 3.5, AmigaOS 4.0 would include new Kickstart
chips allowing the machine to bypass 68k mode and boot with the PowerPC.
Rumours persist that an AmigaOS 4.0 would be based upon AROS. Amiga (the
company) have made it clear that as long as development of the Classic
Amiga does not come close to the new patents they are happy for it to be
developed. Recent announcements that a range of cheap Linux-based PowerPC
systems will soon become available also makes a move to native-PowerPC
very tempting!
2) Amiga OE
During mid-1999 Jim Collas, president of Amiga at the time, indicated that
the company would be prepared to port the Amiga Operating Environment back
to the Classic Amiga architecture. This would most likely be based upon
system requirements for the PowerPC part of AmigaOS 3.5. This would provide
the Classic Amiga with level 1 compatibility with the later Amiga. Given
the company's history, contradicting previous statements (see QNX-Linux
decision for an example) I'll believe it when I see it.
3) QNX
QSSL were not exactly happy being dumped by Amiga after so much work had
been done on the kernel and the announcement created a great deal of sympathy
for the QNX cause. A few days later Phase 5 announced they had formed a
partnership with QSSL to provide hardware for the QNX OS. The AMIRAGE is
a G3-based system able to run "Classic Amiga" software through a form of
emulation, although how this is achieved is unknown. To tempt Amiga owners
down the QNX road, Phase 5 announced a version of the QNX operating system
would be provided free with all G4 accelerator cards and as internet download.
The company (QSSL) and the operating system (QNX) have an impressive history
making it very tempting for many "Amigans." However, it must be said that
QNX have nothing to do with Amiga, the Phase 5 transition products are
just a way of making Amiga users into QNX users.
Conclusion
The fate of the Classic Amiga still hangs in the balance and until a new
machine is sold (the BoXeR) many will remain sceptical that the AmigaOS
will continue to be developed as a major technology during the 21st century.
The release of the new Amiga may kill the AmigaOS in favour of the Amiga
OE. It is produced by a company that owns the rights to the Amiga so whatever
your thoughts on the Amiga MCC, it is an Amiga in name. Perhaps I should
have included a fourth option- Classic Amiga users remain where they are.
The Amiga is not going to stop working with the Y2K problem. Many Amiga
users are quite happy to use their 68030 or PPC 603 Amiga for word processing,
games, etc. and have no reason to upgrade their machine. Why replace something
that works? At the end of the day it comes down to personal choice. Fleecy
Moss once said that Amiga users are drivers rather than passengers, "where
do you want to go today?"
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