wARP9 exclusive interview with Sam Jordan

12.03.1999


RBY:
Hi Sam! You are one of the really important AmigaPPC coder. What was your first PPC program?
Sam:
Cybermand, the mandelbrot animation, which is found in the WarpUp package. The code was ready, before I got my first PPC board. Then finally I made it working... several factors slower than the 68K version. Well, things changed later :)
RBY:
When you are buy your first amiga and when you are began to code?
Sam:
In winter 1990 I got an A2000. I started to program in AMIGA-Basic for about 1 or 2 years, and afterwards I learned assembler and direct hardware programming. During this time I wrote a complete shoot'em up game (it took me and my comrade three years to complete it). Finally we will release the game for free, watch out H&P's web sites. After this project I started to write the PowerASM assembler, and I assembled my first PPC program 'cybermand' with it.
RBY:
Why you are decided to code warpOS? What was the greatest problem?
Sam:
I wanted to have a reliable and fast interface to the PPC processor. The solution from Phase5 didn't offer both reliability and speed. The greatest problem was the conflict between Phase5 and H&P, which had the effect, that most users didn't want to even try out WarpUp.
RBY:
Do you think that Phase5 will never accept warpOS?
Sam:
That's up to Phase5 to answer.
RBY:
Do you talked with Phase5 about the lib in rom problem in the last time?
Sam:
I don't have a direct link to Phase5, but I strongly think, that this problem was mentioned so many time everywhere, that they certainly know about it. And I'm also sure that H&P itself told this many times to the responsible persons at Phase5.
RBY:
Now something about warpOS. When we can download the next version? Whats new?
Sam:
WarpUp Release 4 should come at the beginning of april, maybe a bit earlier. Most new features were added to support developers, which requested them to be able to develop very special AMIGA PPC software. Therefore the new WarpOS version will be required for some of these new projects.
RBY:
Sounds interesting ... and warp3D- when is the final 2.0 version finished?
Sam:
We plan to release the final V2 sometimes in late march, or earlier, if possible. We would like to fix as many problems as possible until the final V2 release.
RBY:
Do you think that warp3D will revolute the amiga games? Do you know something about new projects?
Sam:
Warp3D allows the AMIGA to compete with other platforms concerning technology level. Many games of other platforms even can't be run at acceptable speed without 3D hardware, so without Warp3D there wouldn't be a chance to port such modern games to AMIGA. Latest PC games even require OpenGL! And even those games can be ported to the AMIGA, since we have hardware-accelerated OpenGL for AMIGA (StormMesa). More and more software projects are announced to support Warp3D, a list of these projects can be found at the 3DWorld web pages.
RBY:
What do think about the permedia2 - do you mean that the p2 is fast enough for great games?
Sam:
It is fast enough.
RBY:
Do you think it is good that there is no standard 3D chip for the amiga. All chips are faster or slower than the other chip - is it better then there is only one high end standard chip for the amiga?
Sam:
Look at the PC market, there is the answer... Competition pushes the evolution forward.
RBY:
What are your future plans - There are any new projects?
Sam:
I am maintaining the existing projects and have started a new one recently. More infos later.
RBY:
Ok - thats all for today :) Big thanks to you for this interview and your projects.
Sam:
If any questions are left, people can contact me at s.jordan@haage-partner.com. Thanks! bye