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c1*** THE FUTURE OF THE AMIGA & THE SCENE ***

c3BY ZEROX/GODS
as
c6This article will concentrate on the new Amiga and how it will effect
the scene.

c5For the first time in ages, the c2future of the amiga is very bright!
c5The Amiga has ended in the hands of c2real amiga enthusiasts, c5and many new
plans have been launched. Instead of continuing the path laid out by Amiga
previously, Amiga has now decided to support the current c2amiga users c5to let
us all expand our machines to modern standards!

It was in late October last year Amiga announced the first c2new amiga hardware c5in
6 years. And it was also 6 years ago since the last issue of c2D.I.S.C.
c5got released, so something is definitely happening these days. The first
product from the "new" amiga is called c2AmigaONE, c5and it will run a single
piece of software named c2Amiga Digital Environment (DE). c5The Amiga DE has
the ability to host itself on c2multiple hardware and operating system
platforms, c5which gives us all a chance to chose the hardware that best
suits our needs and taste. Infact, this may bring back some c2old sceners
c5to our scene as they now can use a PC if they'd like. But the best part is
of course that our c2current amigas also can be upgraded c5to run Amiga DE
if I have understood this correctly.

Anyway, the new specification is following:

c6- CPU/One AmigaDE friendly host processor (x86, PPC, Arm, SH4, MIPS)
- Graphics: Next Generation Matrox graphic chips (probably G800)
- Sound: Creative EMU10K1 chip based audio card
- RAM: Minimum 64MB
- Drives: 10GB+ HD, DVD/CD player (both)
- Expansion: 2 free PCI slots, Firewire
- Other: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, 56k modem, USB 1.0

c5This means that a partner of Amiga, c2Eyetech, c5will create some products to
achieve the goals mentioned above. With these add-in products, old amiga
machines will have a c2modern graphics chip, full classic compatibility,
G3/G4 CPUs and industry standard expansion options. c5And the machines will
be able to run the Amiga DE.

The first products based on the spesification mention, are c2The Amiga One
c51200 PPC and the Amiga One 4000 PPC. These are add-in cards for the classic
A1200 and A4000. They will make use of PPC accelerator cards. These models
will dual both c2AmigaOS 3.9, c5and the new c2AmigaDE. c5These cards can infact
also be run without any c2A1200 or A4000 c5motherboard, but then without the
AmigaOS 3.9 compatilibility. c2bplan Gmbh c5will make stand alone Amiga One
computers with PowerPC processors. By the way, in AmigaOne, One stands for
it being a c2single processor. c5As you understand, Amiga will provide
the c2new revolutionary software c5and their partners the c2hardware.
c5This is infact great news if you ask me.

How will this effect you? Well, the AmigaOne PPC 1200 will be available
as an upgrade for owners of towered A1200 computers and the AmigaONE
PPC 4000 as an upgrade for Amiga 4000 desktop computers in tower conversion
cases. (The upgrade of other amigas will be a subject of demand). Anyway,
this allows us sceners that have invested in the c2classic amiga c5to continue
using our amigas and also having a c2brand new amiga c5at our disposal. The
68k processor will be emulated at a substantially increased level via the
PPC processor on the c2AmigaONE, c5whilst the classic operating system can take
advantage of the AmigaONE's next generation hardware resources. So when
can we get the new c2OS3.9? c5Your wait is over... as the new OS can be ordered
from the amiga dealers and amiga shops. It was already launched the 4th of
December last year. And the AmigaONE card will come within months.

c6WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SCENE NOW?

c5As you all remember the scene changed quite much when the c2AGA machines c5came
back in 1992. Infact we got a c2divided scene c5and at the end, the ones that
didn't upgrade, left. And now, the change is much more revolutionary.
Because all computers that have installed the AmigaDE, can use the same
software. This means that the hardware will be very different. And I will
expect the scene to get divided once again.

Some sceners will stick to the classic amiga, and c2continue making
productions the traditional way. c5How many that will stay behind, is too
hard to estimate right now. But I think quite c2many won't upgrade c5the first
year at least. But if the AmigaONE turns out to be a success, then I guess
the ones continuing using a c268k processor c5will not be many. Perhaps as many
as in the current C64 scene? And if these sceners go to the various parties
to compete, there have to be own-classic-amiga competitions or else they'll
meet the same problems as the others, the c2compatilibility problem. c5I'll come
back to this later on in this article, but I'll just mention the keyword;
c2timing!

c5I'm also pretty sure that some c2sceners will leave the scene c5if the majority
upgrade their machines with the AmigaOne. Especially the ones that have
been thinking of leaving for a while, the ones that don't spend that much
time on the amiga anymore and of course the ones that don't want to spend
more money upgrading.

c6But how will the scene with AmigaOne look like?

c5At first I think only a few groups will join this c2new scene. c5Just like not
many amiga groups are making c2PPC demos c5now. However, quite many c2amiga
sceners c5are also in possesion of a PC and if the software is easy to get or
it won't be too expensive, then I guess many present sceners will at least
be curious on the c2new developments c5in this new scene. And of course some
will upgrade their current amigas with the buy of the AmigaONE card.

Anyway, this opens for a c2joint scene. c5As so many computers can be used to
produce compatible productions. The amiga scene will perhaps merge with
the PC scene in the future. So the scene will definately grow bigger. It
will become a lot harder to win a competition for instance. But it will
be great as so many will be active. Old amiga sceners now present in PC
groups, will be a part of this new joint scene.

However, there will also be some problems with a joint scene. Infact,
there will be c2problems c5with any computers running AmigaDE! As the new
amiga software will be run on c2different hardware, c5an obvious problem is
timing. And c2timing c5is one of the most important things when it comes to
c2demo-making c5for instance. As the c2processor power c5is so different from
computer to computer, this will cause many problems. The c2speed c5of routines
will vary from computer to computer, and if the coding skills are not good
the timing will be a serious problem. The music will perhaps not fit to
the effects for example. Another aspect of the c2compatilibility c5is that some
productions will require a much c2better processor c5than our amiga can
provide. Or that some productions become extremely slow and flickering.
These are just some of the problems that may appear with use of c2AmigaDE and
AmigaONE.

c6But how will the future demos look like?

c5More detailed and boring c23D worlds? c5If so, then this is not a change I
would look forward too. Already now we have some 3d demos on PC that are far
better than any amiga 3d world, but still... it's boring! The first 3D
world you see is very impressive, but you'll soon get tired of it.

No, I hope the better CPU would be used for making c2new stunning effects.
c5Don't forget that we'll have c2ALOT more RAM c5available too.
And besides, the graphics will be of much better quality which will improve
the demos. And even more important is the c2new sound card. c5No more 4-channel
modules.

So all in all, we should be able to c2create better productions c5as the new
amiga will be c2better in all aspects. c5Nevertheless, some will still prefer
the good n'old classic amiga and c2the new scene c5will get some start troubles
because of the compatilibility problems. But then again, there's no reason
why we can't do both; create "classic" productions and new ones with the use
of AmigaONE.

After the c2new owners c5of the Amiga came to an agreement with Gateway the
27th of December 1999 (and had their first day in office the 3th Of January
2000), they have fulfilled all their promises so far. In one year they have given us
two versions of the c2SDK c5for the new c2AmigaDE, c5launched c2AmigaOS 3.9 c5and have made
deals with c2bplan c5and c2Eyetech c5to create c2AmigaONE. c5Now it's perhaps our turn
to give them support with buying their products?

In any case, I welcome the c2new initiative c5from the new oweners of the
Amiga. And lets hope this change will gain both the amiga and our c2precious
scene.

c4Note: Main source of information concerning AmigaONE was gathered from
www.amiga.com



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