We've heard it many a time. Should that 'New Amiga' use a chipset, or rely on graphics cards?
I have to say I'm fairly balanced in opinion, possibly leaning more towards the chipset side. But I have heard some arguments against the use of chipsets which I find are missing the point.
By chipset, I agree we must not be considering AGA, AAA, or even a slightly updated AAA if the Amiga is to compete with PC graphics cards. And the argument goes 'the Amiga chipset is so far behind PC Graphics cards, there's no hope. Better to just use PC Graphics cards via a PCI interface'.
Well, quite. Except... If someone was developing a new chipset, who says you have to take AGA, and then set about updating it? Remember, there doesn't have to be any differences between a chipset and a graphics card as far as the graphics chips used are concerned - it is just the way they are implemented that really differentiates them. Consider, Phase 5 and their Caipirinha chipset. I presume they didn't use AGA as the basis of their design, rather, they made use of the latest technology and ideas. All the wonder-consoles of today use chipsets, but you never had Nintendo building their 64 by updating the SNES chipset.
The advantages of using each system can be put quite simply, on a basic level:
Chipset
Graphics Cards
As I said, this takes no account of the Amiga's situation, and is just a straightforward comparison. Here are some things which should be considered...
What graphics cards to use? Graphics cards would undoubtably PCI based to use PC cards, rather than Zorro based Amiga ones.
What chipset? If AGA/AAA is no go, then what? Caipirinha makes great sense, rather than AI starting something themselves. It is this chipset that I shall be considering.
AGA is out, AAA never came... As I said earlier, but how does this affect the decision between gfx cards, or using a new chipset? One big problem is compatibility. The Draco showed just how much Amiga software likes an AGA chipset around. Even stuff which allows you to change screen modes might open a straightforward PAL AGA screenmode (er, the full version of this mag is guilty of that one!) If you were building a new chipset, you could build backwards compatibility into it. People might say backwards compatibilty doesn't matter, but I think it does. For example, look at the PIOS machine. It looks great, but if it has nothing more than UAE to run 680x0 card (considering it's not only PPC, but has no AGA chipset and a not fully Amiga compatible OS), then I would look elsewhere... which brings us to the A\BOX and Caipirinha. I don't know whether it will be AGA backwards compatible (but A\BOX will feature Amiga 680x0 emulation, at least).
Graphics cards abilities This is a related subject, as to be able to emulate AGA, you have to be capable of doing what AGA can do. Ah! No problem, PC gfx cards are much better than AGA at everything. Except, things like screen scrolling/dragging, copper effects, bitplanes; even the most advanced PC card can't do this! So this would be a severe downer for using PC cards. In fact, Amiga users face this problem when using Amiga gfx cards, like screen dragging/switching being slow, and not being able to display the palettes of two or more screens at once (like when you pull WB down to reveal PPaint). But Caipirinha is not only capable of this, it takes it far further, like having multiple screens side by side as well as on top of each other, and having windows with different resolutions and palettes. Which means that even if Caipirinha isn't backwardly compatible directly, it should be able to provide emulation of AGA far better than by a graphics card.
Another thing I should point out that this isn't just about retaining backwards compatibility, but also retaining Amiga like features. With a graphics card, even with graphics card friendly software, you will lose out on all the features that AGA had... Without screen dragging / swapping, things would be significantly different.
I hope you agree that the decision between cards and chipsets isn't so swayed towards cards. But remember what I was saying at the start of this article, that the chips themselves could be the same ones on a card and in a chipset. I wouldn't be surprised if these wonder consoles used some chips that featured in PC gfx cards (maybe they don't, but you get the idea). Could it work the other way around, that is, having graphics cards which were AGA backwardly compatible, and were capable of all the Amiga-isms that previous Amiga chipsets allowed. If you like, Caipirinha on a PCI card?
I wouldn't be surprised if they did this - if it really is so good, then surely they would want to use it for more than just A\BOX?
Personally, I think that having Caipirinha, whether on a chipset or a gfx card, is a much better solution than using AGA/AAA or PC graphics cards.
Mark