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AMIGA
NEWS
NOTES FROM CIS: AMIGAF FORUM
Posted By Betty Clay
Ed: In recent months there has been a lot of information on how the Amiga is going to develop. This is encouraging considering the long silence previously. The news is written here in chronological order. Some of the early news may be superceded by that later in the article. I do hope these ideas come to fruition in new hardware.
May 1999
Operations/Planning:
New Staff:
Major Development Programs:
Shows and Community Activities:
June 29 1999
Finnish Amiga Users Group Announces Saku 99 Web Site
Finnish Amiga Users Group is pleased to announce that the Web site for its third annual Amiga event, Saku 99, is now open. The Web site features highlights, directions and other vital information for interested visitors and exhibitors from Finland and abroad. We are also planning a Saku 99 webcam and an IRC channel.
Saku 99 will be the biggest Amiga event in Finland this year. Following the success of Saku 98, which was visited by some 500 Amiga enthusiasts, Saku 99 is aimed to be bigger and better than the previous events. Mr. Petro Tyschtschenko of Amiga has already confirmed his presence and other great highlights are planned. Saku 99 will be held on Saturday September 4th 1999 at the Science Centre Heureka in Vantaa, near Helsinki.
Please visit http://batman.jytol.fi/~saku/english/ or our mirror site http://tzimmola.tky.hut.fi/saku/english/, for further information. E-mail inquiries may be sent to Janne Siren (siren@mikrobitti.fi).
Finnish Amiga Users Group
Finnish Amiga Users Group is a non-profit organization for promoting Amiga computing and helping Amiga users in Finland. Also known as Saku, after its disk magazine, the group is trying to accomplish its goals by organising meetings and by publishing a disk magazine. Since 1993 the Finnish Amiga Users Group and it's predecessors have released over thirty issues of the disk magazine and held several public gatherings. Other accomplishments include the Web site and Sakunet, a national Fidonet style network of Amiga related bulletin board systems.
July 9 1999
AMIGA TO USE LINUX
Dear Amigans,
After months of research and in-depth discussions with all of our technology partners we have decided to use Linux as the primary OS kernel for the new Amiga Operating Environment (OE). I know this decision is a shock to many of you given the previous announcements and activities relative to QNX. This was a very complicated and difficult decision to make and I assure you that I didn't make this decision without a significant amount of research and deliberation. We have been researching Linux since February but didn't finalized our decision until several weeks ago. We were planning to communicate it to the Amiga community in the technology brief that will be released in the next few days.
I am pressed to communicate the Linux decision before the technology brief because of information released by QNX in the last few days. This information had not been reviewed or approved for release by Amiga. In light of our Linux decision, this information is confusing and misleading so I would like to take the time to clarify the situation. I can't disclose any details of the Amiga/QNX discussions because of legally binding confidentiality agreements but I can talk to you about our decision to use the Linux kernel. I think that you will agree that this is the right decision once you understand the reasons for this decision.
Before I continue, I should mention that our technology decision does not reflect negatively on QNX. I believe that QNX is a good company with great technology. I just believe that Linux gives us a better chance of executing our plans successfully.
The decision to use QNX as our OS partner on our next generation multimedia convergence computer (MCC) was made late last year. When I took over as president of Amiga in February of this year, I initiated an in-depth review of existing Amiga plans and decisions. As president of Amiga I had to make sure that we were defining a strategy and an execution plan that would allow Amiga and the Amiga community to be successful. We reviewed our strategy, architecture decisions, technology partners and execution plans.
During this review period we also added a number of very talented and experienced people to help us finalize our technology and product decisions. I am confident that we now have a solid and exciting plan that people can have confidence in. Linux has been picking up substantial momentum over the past year as a viable, open OS alternative in the marketplace. This momentum, the growing commitment to Linux applications from a wide variety of software vendors, and the growing availability of Linux device drivers from hardware vendors,makes it a compelling candidate. Additionally, with all of the significant component suppliers putting resources on writing drivers for Linux it was difficult to get them to port to yet another operating system. Using the Linux OS as a foundation for our Amiga OE allows us to leverage a significant amount of available software drivers and utilities. This allows us to quickly support multiple graphics cards and other peripherals.
Given the above-mentioned advantages, we decided to do an in-depth technical analysis of Linux to determine if it was a suitable OS kernel for our new Amiga operating environment (OE). As we ported parts of our higher level operating environment and AmigaObjectTM architecture to Linux, we discovered some significant performance advantages in the Linux kernel in areas such as distributed object messaging across a network (up to 10X the performance of Windows NT). Although Linux configurations can be very large in size, the core pieces of the Linux kernel are actually very small and efficient. In considering hardware requirements we also found companies working on hardware components that were optimized for the Linux kernel. Additionally, Linux is probably the most stable operating system available in the market. After months of in-depth research we were confident that we could build an extremely exciting next generation Amiga based on the Linux OS kernel.
Does this mean that the next generation Amiga will not be unique? Absolutely not! Remember that the OS kernel is only one component of the new Amiga OE and the hardware is unique. The revolutionary nature of the Amiga OE is in the way it extends the traditional operating system to provide a host environment for a new class of portable applications - applications that exist in a pervasive networked computing environment. We will be integrating multiple technologies including an efficient windowing environment and a unique user interface.
In summary, we decided to use Linux because of the incredible momentum and the fact that it is solid technology and a good foundation for our new Amiga OE. Additionally, the Linux community is an impressive force that we should be aligned with. We share many common values and objectives with the Linux community. Using Linux as our OS kernel allows us to build a unique and revolutionary operating environment while leveraging the enormous momentum of Linux.
The soon to be released technology brief will further explain our architecture and plans for integrating all of the selected technology. Once you read it, I am confident that you will understand the revolutionary nature of the next generation Amiga. I assure you that Amiga and the Amiga community will be a driving force behind the next computer revolution.
Sincerely,
Jim Collas
President, Amiga
July 1999
FROM QNX'S WEBSITE (http://www.qnx.com/) WHERE DO WE STAND?
Eight months ago we were chosen by Amiga as their foundation OS partner.
Our development group was thrilled to be part of the rebirth of such an innovative product. To meet the challenge we knew it would take a tremendous effort on our part. We had a team of people in place working on our part of the Amiga NG soon after the alliance was announced.Over the next few months we involved more and more of our engineering resouces towards making QNX an advanced multi-media platform. Our investment so far has been significant. These are costs we have born ourselves.
It is clear today from Jim's letter that we were not chosen for the next generation Amiga. Naturally we're disappointed.So, where do we stand now?
It is not our intent to confuse the Amiga community. We are proud of what we have accomplished and want to include Amigans in what we've achieved. I did make a promise to deliver an operating system and I intend on keeping that promise.
I don't want to split the community, nor do I wish to engage in a war of words. I don't ask you to "trust" me or to take me at my word. Both QNX and Amiga have promised to deliver technology into your hands in the very near future. I ask only that your assessment of QNX be based on what we do and what we deliver.
Thanks for the overwhelming support we have received so far.
Dan Dodge
CTO, QNX Software Systems
July 1999
Amiga Staff - Dr. Jim Miller - Director of User Experience R&D
From: Asha DeVelder <asha@ashafx.com>
Dr. Jim Miller, Director of User Experience R&D, has worked in the field of human-computer interaction for over 17 years. He has specialised in the development of interactive systems that provide exceptional creative power to their users, while maintaining exceptional ease of use. Prior to joining Amiga, Jim was doing consulting on the design and evaluation of the user interface components of desktop software and Internet products, and was involved in startup activities in the area of consumer Internet technology.
Previously, Jim was the program manager for Intelligent Systems at Apple's Advanced Technology Group, where he led a number of research projects on human-computer interaction and intelligent interfaces, especially those involving agents and assistants, speech and natural language processing. Here, as elsewhere, much of his work was focused in supporting technology transfer between research and product development teams. The result of one such collaboration, Apple Data Detectors, is available at
http://www.apple.com/applescript/data_detectors
Some of his other interests include the ongoing convergence of computation and consumer technologies, the creation of distributed networked communities and the evaluation methods for interactive systems.
Prior to joining Apple, Dr. Miller was the manager of the Human-Computer Interaction Department in Hewlett-Packard Laboratories and a project leader in human-computer interaction at MCC (Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation). Jim has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.S. in Social Science-Computer Science from Michigan State University.
Jim is also active in SIGCHI, the ACM's special interest group for human-computer interaction. He was co-chair of the 1992 CHI conference, and was elected chair of SIGCHI in 1993. Currently, he sits on the SIGCHI Executive Committee as Past Chair and is also a member of the organization's Conference Management Committee.
July 1999
Thoughts on Gateway's Amiga
thoughts by Jim Davis, Staff Writer, CNET, (http://www.news.com/)
Written by Brian Grainger
After two years Gateway seems to have a plan for the use of the Amiga. They seem to be aiming for the TV set-top box and Internet appliance market and using the Amiga for this purpose. With Amiga's designs, Gateway hopes to enter this new market for devices which will connect directly to the Internet.
JIm Collas, President of Amiga has said, "Our main focus is to come up with a new operating environment focused on the emerging information appliance market. Gateway is in a great position to have continued success in the PC market because of its direct relationship with customers. But, information appliances will challenge PC market growth".
Revenues from PCs are decreasing on a near continuous basis. Forrester Research is predicting that consumer PC spending will peak at around $19.9 billion this year and then intelligent TV set-top boxes and other electronic goods such as MP3 players will take more on the revenues as they become more prevalent.
With Amiga, Gateway can get into the potentially huge device market, which may come to eclipse PCs in terms of sales and ubiquity.
Gateway sees Amiga as a strategic, but separate, venture.
The information on the direction of the Amiga has so far been limited. Collas has been quoted as saying that information released has been to appease Amiga's loyal adherents, who will form the first group of people willing to buy and write programs for its next generation products.
One project is a technology called AmigaObjects, which is similar in concept to "device language" technologies being developed by a host of companies such as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, and Sony. With it, any device on a network can offer up its abilities to another device and share the task of processing commands. Collas has said, "There are lots of companies that have technology targeted at this vision, but few are pulling all of it into a single comprehensive environment. Amiga is not trying to reinvent the wheel. The company will use Java and work with Sun's Jini, Sony and Philip's Havi, and Microsoft's Universal Plug and Play. However, its homegrown technology will get everything to work together in an easy-to-use fashion."
It is anticipated that November will see the first demonstrations of the technology. Eventually, Collas hopes the technology will show up in digital televisions, set-top boxes and other devices.
Analysts say that because the Amiga can handle several tasks
at once, unlike Microsoft's Windows 98 or Windows CE operating
systems, it is well suited to multimedia environments with
simultaneous audio and video. In addition, Amiga works well
with high-resolution monitors and television screens, according
to Richard Doherty, president of Envisioneering Group.
(Ed: Will somebody please explain, in easy terms, why Windows
98 is not multitasking like the Amiga when running native Windows
98 32 bit apps. Also I have yet to see an Amiga, or any other
computer, create high resolution viewable on a TV. That is why we
all buy monitors. One day running TV on a monitor, like we do
with PC TV tuner cards, maybe the norm but not running high
resolution on a TV surely.)
All this activity is autonomous of Gateway itself. Jeff Weitzen, President of Gateway has said, "Our view of world is that we think the PC is very much alive and will be for some time. We do see an opportunity for Internet appliances; we are absolutely interested in being in that market."
In Gateway's vision of the networked home, a home server connects to the Internet and sends information out to other devices. These servers could be based on PC technology - Intel processors and Microsoft's Windows operating system - but could send around voice, video and other data to a variety of devices that use other kinds of chips and operating systems, including Linux.
"We would hope to have Gateway build information appliances based on Amiga technology, but they are not obligated to do so," said Collas.
Ed: So there you have it then. The die hard Amigans are being encouraged (duped) to support their beloved machine so that they will write software for it. Then it will be turned into a commodity Internet connected item and will still be competing against the Wintel devices for Gateway's attention. Is that what the Amigans want their machine to be? You may remember what I said in my summing up of Linux in E-Journal No. 2. 'I believe we are going to get products, much simpler than a PC, whose sole purpose will be to access the Internet. The operating system for that is another area that Linux might go for. I think it is a niche product, but it might be a rather large niche.' Looks like the Amiga is heading for that niche.
