| From: | Steffen Haeuser |
| Date: | 07 Dec 99 at 21:33:36 |
| Subject: | [warpup] Re: Test |
owner-warpup-list@haage-partner.com wrote :
Hi!
ow> This doesn't prevent H&P from getting a developper card and port it's
ow> own kernel
ow> on the stuff.
For free, or what do you mean ? H&P have to pay their developers. If they do
this, these developers can't work on other things at that time... licensing
software is a very usual process. And really, i think it would actually save
M@tabox money, as they have absolutely no experience in PowerPC Kernel
implementation while H&P has a system which is ready for support of new
Boards, with some new Driver software...
Of course there is still the option making the Drivers commercial, like CGX
people did with CGX 4... but i guess licensing will be much more attractive
for H&P... after all M@tabox does not do the hardware for free, why should H&P
do the software for free ? And doing drivers as commercial software always
creates a piracy problem...
ow> We're not in the case of first P5/H&P battle. There's already some soft
ow> running
ow> under WarpOS and won't be any on Met@box's, so people will make a better
ow> choice.
ow> Moreover, that doesn't prevent Met@box from developping another solution
ow> which
ow> will be 100% compatible with WarpOS.
This about 100% compatible was not before users and developers took them the
illusion a third PPC Kernel incompatible to the existing two (which was their
original plan) would sell the hardware... now they changed their policy, but
not from start... I would prefer someone doing the software where i can be
sure that not at some point maybe some other "strange idea" will pop up. The
incompatibility idea seems to be off, but who guarantees they don't do other
strange things ?
These people have been away a long time from the Amiga Market. It is a GOOD
thing they now understood they can't do without WarpUP-compatibility. (At
least some people on the net say they now understand this and told them their
Board will be WarpUP compatible).
Still i
doubt their capabilities to develop a solution for a PPC-only system (!!!)
themselves. This is definitely no trivial task, especially if 100%
compatibility to both 68k AmigaOS and WarpUP is wanted. A major problem there
is the Betatesting. The WarpUP-based 68k Emulation has been in Beta-Testing
and Optimization since over a year if i remember right... i guess M@tabox
wants to bring out the hardware as soon as possible, so that others can't be
earlier. Licensing H&Ps solution would help them a lot reaching this goal.
ow> Then the AmiJoe Card is far different from the original P5 PPC card: no
ow> 68k, L2
ow> cache, therefore no cache flush prblem when involving two different
ow> processors
ow> accessing same memory, etc.
ow> Of course, WarpOS can adapt to that new architecture, but it won't work
ow> the better
ow> way with just no change at all.
Yes, it can, as a 68k Emulator Bootup already exists as Betaversion since a
long time for the existing PPC Boards.
Steffen Haeuser