Ways To Save Amiga!

Okay, we admit that this is an idea stolen off CU Amiga, but what the hell, we just thought that there were other things that needed to be said.

There are a range of things here, from the things which desparately need to be done, to the things which aren't to important, but would be nice. From things which are up to Gateway 2000, and some that are in the hands of others. From the bleeding obvious, to the controversial - in fact, some statements will be contradictary to each other...

• Don't use special graphics chips designed for the Amiga, just use standard PCI graphics cards. Cheap, lots of availability, and no worries about having to continually update a custom chipset.
• Don't use PCI graphics cards! The problem is that they are designed for the PC, and hence don't play to the AmigaOS's strengths. The whole point of Amiga is that it isn't PC, so long term, chipset such as Caipirinha are better than ordinary PC cards.
• Adopt pOS as the new AmigaOS. It has a high level of compatibility, is very Amiga-like, and (so we are told) corrects all the bad points of the AmigaOS. And it is available for PowerPC now rather than having to wait a couple of years for a port from 680x0. It might as well be AmigaOS 4.
• Port the AmigaOS to Pentium? This should certainly a consideration; it would mean that no matter how cheap PCs were, Amigas would be just as cheap, because they would be running on PCs! UAE could be used as the basis of 680x0 Amiga emulation, and slow OCS/AGA emulation won't be a problem for programs which support RTG (ie, most), as they could be retargetted to the PC's graphics card, presumably. In time, software would be written for Amiga in Pentium code (sort of like 'PentiumUP').
• No more 680x0! Whether the future of the Amiga lies with PPC, Alpha, Pentium, MIPS, ARM, HP-PA RISC, no more machines with 'super fast' 25MHz '040s, or anything. Not even as stopgap machines. Certainly not. A 75MHz 603e will do much better if a low end machine is needed.
• Port Lightwave to PowerPC! Now that PowerPC cards are available, this is essential if the Amiga is to retain its niche in 3D graphics. There's a PowerMac version available, and they can be bothered to release it for 680x0 Amigas. Put it this way; if you were doing commercial rendering with Amigas, what is more cost-effective. 200MHz 604s, or 50MHz '060s?
• Faster PPC boards for Amigas Even if Lightwave is ported to PowerAmiga, their is still a danger that 3D graphics companies may choose PowerMacs, Alpha, Pentium, etc over the Amiga; a 200MHz 604 is fast, but a 350MHz one is faster!
• A Graphics card for the A1200(T) that doesn't require expensive Zorro slots. Hopefully Phase 5 will do this with their BVision card which slots into the Blizzard PPC.
• Port PC/Mac 'Killer' Apps to AmigaPowerPC! Obviously this is more difficult to achieve, but a PowerPC Amiga would look so much better with the likes of Word, Quark, IE/Netscape, etc. Maybe Gateway 2000 could obtain licenses, and commission Amiga developers to do the port. ClickBOOM and others plan to do it with games - why not with applications to?
• Port Quake to AmigaPowerPC, and bundle it with the Phase 5 PPC boards. CU are right - this game could sell a lot of PowerUP boards.
• Lots of high-spec Amiga games - not '030 and AGA enhanced, more like PPC, Graphics card, CD and 8/16MB RAM required. Sure, there are very few with such a setup, but then that's not going to change if there's nothing to take advantage of it.
• Other companies releasing PowerPC boards - why should Phase 5 have the market to themselves? More products, lower prices, more PowerPC software, more buyers...
• Backwards compatibility / 680x0 Emulation This must be partially sacrificed (unless you are happy with 680x0 AGA Amigas), but it must be possible to run older software, by emulation. As for UAE - the emulation on Power/AlphaAmigas to run 680x0 binaries should be better than an A500. This isn't too difficult, as the reason UAE is so slow is that it directly emulates the Amiga chipset, but most Amiga software is fine running on graphics cards these days, so AGA won't need to be emulated for a lot of the time. The emulation also needs to be integrated, so that the user isn't aware even that it's running via emulation - just like the PowerMac. Don't have: 'My, a 680x0 Amiga program, now I'll have to load up UAE in order to run it'. Also, a proper 680x0 emulation will mean PowerAmigas running an emulated AmigaOS without the need for real 680x0 processors become possible (again, like PowerMacs).
• Amigas must be sold with Monitors. In these days of computer graphics, nobody wants to look at a TV, or have to pay about £300 extra.
• Use HTML as an AmigaGuide replacement. Presumably, if you wanted to intergrate the two, it would be easier to modify an existing browser so it could display Guides, rather than attempting to update AmigaGuide so it could read HTML!
• Develop a new Filing System for the Amiga, sort of like Super-FFS. One that loads/lists directories a lot quicker, as well as faster disk access.
• Develop a proper Amiga laptop. Not some modified A1200 'luggable', but a proper laptop.
• Develop a network computer set-top box Amiga-based thingy, like for real, not another 'hoax'. We all know how the Amiga is the best for this sort of thing, even in its current 'state', but while we see every format available appearing in a settop box format, the Amiga seems left out. It shouldn't be!
• Make sure hardware (and software) in every field is available for Amiga. I don't like trying to order a monitor, and being told that no Amiga Multisync monitors are available at all. The same is true for things like digital cameras, video-camera links, Java browsers, TI-85 (graphics calculator) to computer connection kit. So many companies making these products seem to suffer from 'Mac/PC duopoly syndrome'.
• On a similar note, make sure that software drivers for the latest printers, graphics tablets, removable hard drives, scanners, etc exist, and make them PD. At the moment, we have to rely on friendly Amiga companies if the manufacturers of the hardware don't provide it - and then we are paying extra for it.
• Sod SIMMs, Amigas can use them anyway. DIMMs are what all the new PCs and PowerMacs are using, and in time will be much more common and cheaper than SIMMs (remember ZIPs?)
• Support for more than one monitor, like on the Mac. In a way, the Amiga is made for this with its multiple screens; just make it so that screens can be made to appear on only one monitor.
• Give a licence to Phase 5 so that the A\BOX becomes an official Amiga (or the official PowerAmiga), and runs an official PPC AmigaOS. This will also mean a lot more marketing power (assuming Gateway 2000 are willing).
• Release tooled-up A1200s and A1200Ts, as stopgap machines, as is being done by some companies. Giving that Gateway have a tad more purchasing power than Direct Software, they should be able to give cheaper prices. Offer trade-in prices for existing Amiga setups (as most buyers will already have A1200 based machines anyway). For God's sake, don't release the basic A1200...
• All new software, including games, must be OS-friendly and future proof. None of this bypassing the OS or banging the hardware! Things like running in any graphics/screen mode, supporting RTG and AHI, being multitasking friendly. Things are getting much better at least than they have been (remember games on custom disk formats that assumed an Amiga wih 1MB must have had some fast RAM...)