Wow! It has been awhile. A1200 Arise!!!

I have been obviously too busy to update my blog. I will spare those 5 people that actually frequented my drivel to just say that the tail end of 2007 was hectic with the usual things.

I am planing on resurrecting my A1200 for a few tasks. The first one is play around with Aladdin 4D (Amiga OS 3D software) - by friend, fellow co-host of AmigaRoundtable Podcast, owner of DiscreetFX, and fellow Amiga Freak, Bill Panagouleas - has purchased the rights to this package in December from the former rights-owner and plans on porting this package to OS4, Morphos, Linux?, and AROS. I am getting a copy of the classic version to play with. (Thanks Bill!)

As well as playing with A4D - I am going to get my A1200 involved in some audio work that I have been meaning to get back into. (gosh - I have been saying that forever!) Not only do I want to play with Octamed once again.. I plan on using an 8-bit sampler to use with my noise-music-projects that I have been somewhat involved with in the past few years.

My A1200 is slightly upgraded with an 030/50mhz card and 32mb of RAM. Which is enough to get me going for both purposes. On the other hand - I have been itching to get one of my x86 boxes, Amiga emulated, I may just do that and leave the 1200 for the 8-bit sampling tasks. We'll see... nevertheless these are my goals for the first part of 2008.

I also and going to get the AmigaKegger2008 website started. (see previous blog posting last summer) So be on the lookout for that. Date for the event is tentatively set for June 28th, 2008. The location will probably be in Philadelphia for me. We hope to have other locales set up impromptu all over the world on this date. Web-casting, IRC-chats, and lots of drinking. :) Want to be a part of this??? Send me an email!

Care for a bit of Satire?

In lieu of Amiga, Inc.'s Open Letter to The Amiga Community that was posted last night, The Amiga Roundtable Podcast team has their own Open Letter. Yeah..we were a little angst-y last night....


ART's Open Letter to the Amiga Community



Please - Please - give us back our OS..hang your hat and be done with it Amiga, Inc.

Acube Systems' SAM440ep Public Launch

Anyone who knows me knows that I am an Amiga wacko. And like many many other Amiga users we all waited in heated anticipation for the looming launch of Acube Systems' Sam440ep. The Sam440 is the current hopeful savior for us as the platform for Hyperion's OS4 (latest Amiga OS) - however, due to a tedious court battle between Hyperion and Amiga, Inc. it is still not a done deal - yet.

However here are the details on the board. Obviously this is not just an AmigaOS platform, it will prove to be a very powerful system for embedded development.
Pricing on the board will clock in at 350 - 550 Euros, if I have my notes straight. I am hopeful we will hear more information about this board, early adopters, etc. Until then, I will probably just wait until OS4 is available for it at this point.

• CPU SoC AMCC 440ep
  • Integrated DDR 266 memory controller
  • Integrated PCI controller
  • Integrated Flash memory devices controller
  • Integrated USB 1.1 Host and 2.0 Device controller
  • 2 integrated Ethernet 10/100 ports
  • Up to 4 serial ports
  • 2 I2C interfaces
  • SPI interfaces
  • 64 pin for I/O General Purpose
• USB 2.0 OHCI/EHCI NPX controller
• Audio Cirrus Logic CS4281 e Codec Realtek ALC655
• 4 Serial ATA ports
• ATI RADEON Mobility M9 with 64mb RAM graphic chip
• FPGA

- Image used taken from an Amigaweb.net attendee at Pianeta show in Italy :) -

(Great site by the way - check it out!)

I have subcummed to Ubuntu bliss - I think...

Ok say what you want about the Ubuntu "backlash" - ya know what - I don't see it. I mean its not perfect but man, it sure is comfortable. Gnome, which was my catalyst, is now growing on me. Hardware detection has been pretty much, spot on with my little HP dv1000. I think it will stay on my hd for a little bit. At least, longer than it did initially anyway.

For the past few days I have went through what many have done - toiled over distros to find the "right" one. I tried OpenSuse 10.2 (almost there), Mephis (including the cool AntiX on the ltop), and then one of my old favorites that is near and dear to me, Dynebolic. Dynbolic is still nested & docked on my harddrive. I still really dig it and the concepts behind it from a personal politics pov for sure. Dynebolic is one of the best live linux distros out there - please give it a try.


Off Topic: Like DJShadow? Check out this 'space:
http://www.myspace.com/4teenth

Cool guy in England that I talked to via Amiga.org. PM...Still uses Octamed Soundstudio to create. Got to hand it to him - and BUY HIS NEW EP!

Open Source Links

I have been absolutely up to my eyeballs in work (2 jobs currently). My apologies for the lack of entries. Posting an article link is somewhat of a cop-out, I know - but I thought I'd pass this article out there. We have all seen these types of, "Top x Open Source Applications"-type lists before, I know. However I took at look at it and it jogged my memory on a few that I have been meaning to try and a few I have not heard of. That being said I figured I would post it.

The 40 Coolest Free Applications Around

Now since we are on the topic - Have you checked out Free Software Daily yet? Please do. Its becoming one of my favorite news sources.

Off Topic: Music - yeah..aside from playing with computers I am always on the lookout for something new to listen to. I listen to all sorts - lately my ears have been glued to electronic music - drum 'n bass stuff currently (What happened to Roni Size??). However this gal from New Orleans, Blair, is a bit of an indie-folkie and I really like her work. Here is her myspace link, which has some tracks to dig. Check it - and even buy some tracks if you enjoy as much as I do.

I hope you all don't mind the random posting this go around. Enjoy your week!

-Sean

TheAmiga Kegger (June 2008) - Get ready.

Thin Client Profile #3 : The Powerpc of Efika

OK this little client/embedded/hack-in-a-box is of a different color. The Efika (and comming soon, the Efika 2 ) comes to us from Genesi - the same that brought us the Pegasos/Open Desktop Workstation (now discontinued). Its based around Freescale's MPC5200B PowerPC System-on-Chip platform:

-Specs taken from Genesi's site-

Freescale MPC5200B PowerPC SoC up to 400MHz

118mm x 153mm x 38mm

128MB 266MHz DDR RAM

44-pin IDE connector

10/100Mbit/s Ethernet

2x USB ports

1x RS232 Serial port

Stereo Audio out, Microphone and Line-input

33/66MHz PCI with bundled 90° AGP riser slot

Yes - it has less horsepower than the others - but there are a ton of cool projects going on with this platform and I implore you all to check out its developments on Power Developer and this Blog. Lots of great ports are out there to keep you busy including:

Morphos, Ubuntu, QNX, openSUSE, YDL, CruxLinux, NetBSD, Free BSD, Open Solaris, and more.

You can purchase the Efika 5200B motherboard by itself for just $99 USD, or in a few configurations on Genesi's site - including a full desktop solution for $375. The platform is extremely "green" as well. The 5200B platform is a bit non-standard so you will have to get a bit creative in case options or elect to purchase a few pre-fab options.

Assuming you stay away from XGL stuff - from what I understand you can run a pretty useful linux desktop. It appears as though the best desktop solution for the Efika is going to be Morphos v2.0 when released. Looking a SceneCon's movie, (see my previous post on Morphos 2.0), from the show in May Morphos will fly along quite nicely. What is Morphos??? Look here.

I highly recommend that you also take a look at the EfikaBook here. Its translated in many languages as well. There is quite a neat community surrounding the Efika and since its launch some time ago it really seems to be thriving. Which probably accounts for the Efika 2 announcement, which sounds promising.

Do you currently have an Efika? Please post comments on what you are using it for, what distro/os you are using, or if you are working on an embedded project - let me hear about it.

Thin Client Profile #2 - Koolu

Ok so here we go with another tiny little number...Koolu!

This linux-based appliance is the product of Jon "Maddog" Hall (Chief Technical Officer and Ambasator) and Andrew Greig (Founder and CEO). Backed with such a Linux personality and visionary like Jon gives built-in credibility and we will see what happens. There are two flavors of this unit - a more traditional thin client with Ubuntu Desktop pre-installed, and then a HD based unit as well. These both are truly geared as net appliances utilizing Ubuntu and Google Apps to get things done. Price ranges from $199 for the thin client to $299 for the HD version. Here are the specs:

Thin Client $199-

AMD Geode LX 800 (500MHz@0.9W)
USB 2.0 ports - 4 Nos
Dimensions - 13.5 (Width) x 13.5 (Depth) x 3 (Height) Cm
Memory - 256 MB for thin client and 512 MB for web appliance. Can be upgraded to 1 GB
AMD LX 800 Integrated Graphic
Sound - Realtek ALC203_LF AC’97 (2-Channel Support)
Ethernet - Realtek RTL8100C-LF 10/100 MB LAN
Fan Less Solution / Dust Resist
Energy efficient and uses less than 10 watts.

HD-Based NetAppliance - $299 (80GB HD Installed w/ Ubuntu Desktop)



Now here is the thing that really gives me the utmost respect for them, their philosophy.The Koolu group really strives for making connections with developing countries.

"What (and who) is Koolu?
Koolu is an organization that wishes to bring computing and access to knowledge to the world. In order to do this we believe in:

• Thin client and server-based computing
• Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
• Partnering with people and companies whenever possible (there have been enough wheels invented).
• Generating local jobs and increasing local skill levels.
• Lowest possible prices while delivering quality service.

We are especially interested in emerging nations and in formulating ways to bring software solutions to people who have never had computers or Internet connectivity before. We believe in creating local jobs and increasing local IT skills, which helps develop a better local economy.

Based in Canada, we do business world-wide, and are looking for partners that will help up meet our vision of world-wide computing."

I see this as a great stride and such a enduring approach. I really wish them the best and I really hope to read more about what they have help fostered/accomplished. The machines come in a few pretty colors too, and there are great details on making it a nice little MythTV appliance! Check them out and give them some support - Bravo.


Also check:
Community Koolu page/Wiki