News - Amiga set for a long-awaited reappearance

[Galant]

It's been a long time since I got excited at the mention of any upcoming tech. "Amiga comeback" made my heart leap!

Thanks for raining on my parade before it even started.

Can anyone give any more detail about the system beyond the numbers? The jargon went right over my head.

I might be up for a new computer in the near future. I'm enough of a fan to go for this, just for the sake of it, if it did the job. Processor specs seem a bit low.

[watercooled]

I'm quite interested myself, but the price needs to be right really.

[Smudger]

I'd buy it, provided it came with a Competition Pro 2000 joystick and a copy of SWOS 96/97...

[Galant]

http://obligement.free.fr/articles_t...ckinson_en.php

This interview suggests around £1500. Depending on what the final version can do, that seems quite high.
Price:

"About the price, the first idea of A-EON was "a little cheaper" than the Amiga 1000. The A1000 was sold 1295 $ in 1985. So can we still expect a prize around 1295 $ ?

Our initial price estimate was related to UK pricing (since the machine is being built in the UK) and according to the Amiga History Guide the Amiga was launched in the UK at a price of £1500 in September 1985. We are currently in the process of deciding the final specification for the standard A1-X1000 production model. We know exactly what parts we want, but we have to ensure that those parts are obtainable in the quantities we need, with suitable volume discounts and lead times. Once this process is complete we will have a better handle on the total system cost and be able to provide details of the initial retail price. Obviously the final price point is something that everyone wants to know as soon as possible, but a degree of uncertainty is inevitable with an immature supply chain. We already know the cost of the motherboard and CPU. When we have the full bill of materials and expenses and talked with the Amiga dealers and settled on margins we'll know the price for sure. My estimate is the price for the standard A1-X1000 system will be in excess of 1500 euros. However, the A1-X1000 is built with expandability in mind, and we anticipate that it will be sold through existing Amiga retailers who will be only too pleased to supply additional expansion options and accessories."

Also as for target demographic the interview suggests:

" Nobody in the real world would create a company for such a tiny market. It's very risky financially. Do you consider this as part of the "Amiga spirit" ?

Sssh don't tell Tony Moorley! ;-) Seriously, although the Amiga market is very small we believe there is still a demand for a powerful high-end Amiga computer for professionals and serious hobbyists. As an Amiga enthusiast I have always been intrigued by the uniqueness of the Amiga hardware/software and the incredible loyalty of the Amiga community and as a fully paid up member of the community I wanted to see new hardware that would put the smile back on the faces of Amiga users. As all Amigans know, 2010 marks the 25th Anniversary of the Amiga's birth and we thought it would be a great idea to celebrate the event with the launch of a powerful desktop AmigaOne computer.

Personally I would be happy if we just recovered our original investment but, in reality we will also need to generate some profit in order to re-invest in new hardware development and possibly attract additional funding if we are to see the AmigaOne product line continue to flourish in the future. We are hoping that the development of A1-X1000 will inspire a new generation of Amiga enthusiasts which will see the platform last for another 25 years. However, I brought in my business partner, Tony to make sure we keep on a sound financial footing and make the right commercial as well as technical decisions. We have worked together for 35 years in several successful businesses but, more importantly he is not a computer enthusiast and hopefully will help keep me grounded. For me at least, the A1-X1000 is partly an extension of my desire to see the Amiga platform and AmigaOS continue to survive and evolve in a computer world totally dominated by a few major players."

And " Even with the best will in the world we can never hope to have the same impact as the original Amiga but at least we can try to build on its legacy and provide the Amiga community with a powerful new machine that is at least worthy to carry the Amiga name." Also, "Custom chipsets are no longer viable but with the additional of Xena and software defined silicon we can at least have "customisable chips" which will hopefully appeal to Amiga enthusiasts and developers alike."

[Steve]

I'd buy it, provided it came with a Competition Pro 2000 joystick and a copy of SWOS 96/97...

Sensi soccer? Only footie game I've ever liked. Was still crap at it.

[Smudger]

I could see this working if they made it into a fully functioned media centre/games console. If it had something a little bit more than PS3/XB, people would remember the Amiga being good at games and go for it, I reckon. Not for £1500, mind...

[Tattysnuc]

Best thing they could do would be to re-issue the A1200 in a console form, with the games on a memory stick or something.

Sensible Soccer 96/97 was the reason I bought an A1200 off ebay a couple of years ago, and you wouldn't believe how long it took to find a copy of 3.5" floppy of Sensible World Of Soccer 96/97 edit!

I'd love to see the same, quality software that used to exist, brought out to play in the living room - emulation on a PC works to a point, but I can't play on anything except a Cheetah 125+ joystick, which makes life difficult on a PC, especially when using a keyboard, it only allows you to press one key at a time per row via Win UAE. Final Writer wasn't a bad piece of software either for basic office productivity - I wrote my final year project on that and DP4 AGA back in 1997 when I graduated....

[simonpreston]

Best thing they could do would be to re-issue the A1200 in a console form,

They did. It was called the CD32.

I don't think 1500 (£,$ euros) is going to garner any home consumers interest at all.
Built in transparent emulation of the classic Amiga software would be a nice touch and would instantly give buyers of the machine access to the massive software archive that is Aminet.

I'd love this machine to take off and the Amiga become a big name again in the computer world. No machine I've had since has allowed me to be so creative. But I just can't see it happening.

[mikerr]

I'd love an Amiga return, but its been so long, and its a different world now.

Amiga was first with photorealistic colour, smooth scrolling, and lightweight OS,
but we have that now (or the hardware has overtaken the software...)


I don't see this being cheap, and as someone else said, Apple have the expensive end covered.

[kaelthun]

I don't know about you guys but this looks like good fun. The "high end" bit of the desc seems a bit farfetched but if it can deliver I'll be more than happy to try one of these things out Now, let's just hope they're not throwing a ridiculous pricepoint at it.