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

Thin Clients - The new black..er.. Green

The geek scene is abuzz with several thin-client/green-pc/linux-based thin-client or mini PCs right now. I think the concept is great. Not only are these little gems super-energy savers, Open Source driven, and cheap - but they make a whole lot of sense for a lot of people. I will be profiling these companies on the following few blog posts.

Zonbu

The problem I see ahead for these little guys is marketing muscle. It seems to me, the only people who are paying attention to them are geeks. :) The one offering who shows the most promise, from a marketing standpoint is Zonbu. This Silicon Valley based company is headed by Grégoire Gentil and Alain Rossmann, who have had their share of expierence in the Start-up department; Gentil started Twingo (sold to Cisco in 2004) and Rossermann former Apple employee during the original Mac launch and co-founder of Openwave (get on to the internet with your cdma-base wireless phone - yep that's them). At any rate, they offer a impressive little number for just $99 (w/ service subscription of 13 bucks a month) or $249 (no service.) I will get more into the details of what this service is in a moment.

From a hardware stand-point this is what is under the hood:

• Intel-compatible ultra-low power CPU
• 512 MB RAM + 4GB flash-based local storage
• Graphics up to 2048 x 1536 (16 million colors, 75 Hz). Hardware graphics and MPEG2 acceleration
• PC-compatible ports for keyboard and mouse
• 6 USB ports to plug-and-play all standard USB accessories
• Broadband ready: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet built-in

The big pitch with this computer is "green computing". From a physical side it is RoHS certified: free of lead and mercury in its components. This little guy, less than 2 lbs, only uses up about 15watts of energy. Which is only one third the consumption of energy in a standard light bulb. It touted as a "zero-emission" computer. Using these machines can truly save you money. Zonbu really drives this point across and really could do well with this message. The concept of, "green computing", I find interesting and plan on investigating this further down the road. I wished they would list some "green" monitor options - if they do exist to some degree. Pehaps I will look into this further.

As I stated already, Zonbu has a service attached to the computer that starts at $13 a month. The machine is centered around a custom version of Gentoo Linux. On the 4 GB flash drive is the distro and a good chunk of applications including: Open Office, Firefox, Gaim, Mplayer, Skype, Nvu, The Gimp, and some games. Storage for your songs, documents, pictures, videos, etc. is on a central server. All updates are automatic and is constantly backed up. If your machine is fried, it is replaced fully under warranty and you don't loose a thing - its like nothing ever happened. Zonbu goes to great length to assure its users' privacy. You can elect to not provide password recovery protection - thus meaning Zonbu will have no record of your password. If you are paranoid I guess its not bullet-proof but they do have a commitment to their users' privacy. The fact that the Zonbu has no hard drive means that it is super quiet too. They claim that there is a remote file access capability, which is great if you need to access files remotely if you cannot take your Zonbu with you or if you are at work/on the road. $12.95 gets you 25GB of storage, 50 GB for 14.95, and 100GB for 19.95 a month - In order to get your machine for $99 you must commit to a 2 year service on one of these plans during it's beta-phase, currently the first 3 mos. are free. If you cancel, they will credit you back the months that you didn't use the service, which is cool. This service as you can tell, is quite similar to a US wireless phone plan - without a nasty contract really. If you wish to buy the machine without a 2year upfront cost - just pay $249 and then go month to month.

No, Zonbu is not for everyone.. but hear them out and think about it, like I did. I think you will agree this is a great service for many people. Not everyone needs a $3000 Mac Pro, nor even a $500 Dell for that matter - but knowing there is a solution for perhaps your parents, kids, spouse, etc. that will keep you out of that troubleshooting headache mode, make Mother Earth happy, and save you a few bucks at the same time - hell, I am game! It started to draw me in the more I really thought about it. So as I move on at looking at Jon "maddog" Hall's Koolu, Genesi's Efika, and the like - take a moment like I did to truly think green and small (wait! that is their mascot at Zonbu - ahhh! cleaver,cleaver.... :) ). With the things Google is up to and some of the terrific & free software out there, I think we are on the cusp of a big turn of events and mind set shift in how computers fit into our lives. Are these systems going to be truly the start of the"appliance-computing" concept ???

Bringing New Life

I really get a kick out of light weight linux distros; Peanut Linux, Damn Small Linux, Xubuntu, and now MEPIS/AntiX !!!

My test x86 box for this one is my old 500mhz PII IBM aptiva. At 256MB it is more than powerful enough for Mepis6.5/AntiX which is supposed to do just fine with 64-128MB PII266Mhz.

Within just a few mins. upon throwing in the LiveCD I was able to get up and running in no time. As you can see, it comes with most apps that anyone could want:

• 2.6.15 kernel
• XOrg7.
• Fluxbox (default), IceWM (optional)
• Rox-filer and Rox desktop (optional)
• Firefox web browser
• Sylpheed-claws email client
• Gaim instant messaging
• Xchat
• AbiWord word processor
• Gnumeric spreadsheet
• Scite editor
• The Gimp photo-editor
• Xmms audio player
• Xine and mplayer video players
• Synaptic package manager
• Graveman CDR/DVDR tool
• All the MEPIS Utilities
• Various CLI apps eg nano, mc, mutt, links2, irssi, raggle
• And lots more!

This Mepis-based distro is still in beta form and there are bound to be some bugs. It is running flawlessly for me so far while I write this blog post. Yep - it is smoking fast! Fluxbox windows manager is minimalist perfection if you ask me.

I find such satisfaction in getting older machines running and becoming productive once again. Why not do something nice for someone else - grab an old machine ya got kicking around gathering dust (especially an old laptop) - install a distro like this on it - and give it to a co-worker,relative, kid that mows your lawn, etc.

Download ISO

Mepis & Mepis/AntiX Forum action linky

Morphos v2.0 - I'm pretty stoked actually

You know you all - I'm getting pretty excited about picking me up an Efika with MOS v.2.o


And maybe I will be able to fool around with some Amiga OS4 apps with OS4emu. Say what you want..and some of these apps are not really "new" but take a look at the many screenshots that were posted today on BBRV's website.

http://bbrv.blogspot.com/

I'm ready - and it should get me by until new OS4 hardware comes along I hope.

Bringing Us All Together - The Amiga Kegger -

You know - my comment about that came out of left field on the podcast last weekend. Funny as it was - I am actually quite serious. I think some sort of organized Amiga-centric Keg party would be a terrific and well-needed/deserved meeting. I mean think about - there are so few of us out there truly but yet so many divided lines within our community. Its very sad in my opinion.

If we could pick a day in the future to for this function - we could really do this in one central location or even better all around the world on the same (so-to-speak-barring-time zone issues) day. Bringing everyone together to put things into perspective, come up with solutions instead of negative attitudes, and well - drink. Why??? I say to bring about perhaps a positive attitude amongst each other . What is perceived as a negative situation is now filtering down once again amongst all of us users. The mudslinging and name calling is starting to harken back to 2002-2003. Maybe this event can culminate around something positive - perhaps MOS 2.0 launch? A new Aros development, or the closure to the court case (we might be waiting on that one though - for a bit)

What do ya say?!?! :)


Syllable Update:

Ok - want to hear more about what was announced at Slycon2007?!?! Take a look at this report! Port of Syllable to the Linux kernel, new Abrowse (syllable browser) now built under Webkit (ala-Apple's Safari) - very interesting developments. Give it a try!

News, Notes, and Nonsense

Ok so the Indy project is on hold a bit until I can get a tad more ram and the external. Also let me make this a shout out to any SGI folks that may be reading my blog - drop me a line and let me know if you are willing to put your neck out for me to ask you some questions as I go along.. there is a nice T-bone steak off of my BBQ grill in it for you. :) Don't worry however - I will complete this challenge - just need to get my ducks in a row.

The Amiga Roundtable podcast show #2 has been released and of course, it was a lot of fun. Rich took me by surprise in having me plug my little blog - anyhow if you made it here because of the show...welcome! Mike was a great guest, and I implore you all to check out #AmigaGuide Magazine and AmigaWeb.net.

There are a few items that have occurred over the last week that I thought I would drop on you all - Kinda news item-type stuff that I have been following.

SyllableOS - "The little hobby OS that could", had their SylCon 2007 meeting in Europe over the weekend. I am still trying to have a moment to digest the mailing list items and forum posts to see what was announced -but so far not much. I assume most that attended are trying to recover or something. The email client Whisper has a new version that was launched, ver. alpha 8, the big thing that was added is API to give the ability for other apps to control Whisper. Its pretty slick - just like most crucial applications that have already been written for it while many other OS projects struggle. The progress that these folks make with so few active developers is at times, astounding. I urge you all to take a look at this little OS, it is pretty cleaver.



Free Software Daily - Me like - check it out. Devoted to free and open source software. Ala-Digg allows you to vote news items up and down - but that is not what I like about it actually just a great way in a snapshot to get the latest news about the open source movement.

A few bumps in the road...

I made time Friday to get the Indy set up once again. The one thing I really need is an external SCSI CD-rom, which I don't have one that functions any more. Jerry, a fellow member of our local Amiga users group and all around nice guy, offered to help - and I had the intention of driving up to his place and picking it up. Well...

2 things happened - First, Rich (Amiga Round Table Podcast co-host and originator) contacted me say that we needed to move the recording session 2 hours earlier from 1PM to 11AM on Saturday. I just wouldn't have been able to do both. Secondly - I had a few rounds at the bar and was hungover most of the next day I am such a lightweight now ;).

My Indy has a fairly well-stocked hard drive that came with it when I bought it on ebay years ago. I don't know about you all - but that kind of stuff usually ends up driving me nuts. I like to know exactly what I have on my drive, configure the desktop how I like, etc. So I really would like to do a fresh install once I get the Cd-Rom drive. Some of the programs I have to work with are: NetscapeMail (yikes! I think I may just use PINE), Mozilla 1.0, Photoshop SGI, Abiword, Open Office. So most of the core productivity apps are covered. Mozilla is a bit sluggish - But it will do.

While being hungover and watching TV yesterday afternoon I decided to watch a late 90's Nuclear/Terrorist/Action flick called the Peacemaker. It was um... kinda bad... but the ironic thing was that movie had an SGI Indy or Indigo in any scene with a computer. So I thought that was pretty cool and also a bit weird.

So in short - I am not quite ready to move forward yet - I really want to get the hardware set - add more RAM too) and also get more accomplished with Irix 6.5 as well - lots of things I just don't know yet. So far I think Irix kicks ass and I hope to have some screenshots soon.

***Shameless plug : ART Podcast URL***
AmigaRoundtable Podcast

(if you choose to d/l - use a mirror or iTunes please)

Objectives

Objectives

I have common needs like most - probably less than some, I'm not a coder, for instance. Nevertheless - I think this shouldn't be to hard to achieve to be honest but I am sure I will have some bumps in the road. I hope to be pleasantly surprised in some situations as well. Should be fun.

1.) Email

2.) Web

3.) Word-processing

4.) Audio/Video Use - (MP3 and other types of formats for music & I have have a video that I recorded on my camcorder that I have yet to transfer - see what the
Indy can do eh?)

5.) I have a design idea for a 3D image that I would like to take a stab at. I have an Indy - WHY NOT!!?

6.) IRC & IM

Project SGI Indy

Ok, so I am on a new start-up site dedicated to Alternative OS use...

Alt.OS: http://acill.com/modules/news/

Being caught up in the discussion and the vote to have some Irix/SGI forums set up on this site really got me thinking about my cool little SGI Indy (Circa ~1994). The Indy was IMHO such a groundbreaker for SGI - it brought a graphics/unix workstation to the masses for a fairly affordable price. It is by no means the current "chosen" model to hack around with in the SGI world right now - but I have one, haven't really used it much, and I am pretty partial to it just because I had always wanted one when it was released - and was able to aquire one a few years ago.

Sooo getting back to Alt.OS - I thought it would be cool to do my own spin on the, (example) "I used a Mac SE/30 for a month as my primary machine"-type concept. I am going to get my way through using my Indy as my primary machine a week, month, or perhaps longer - and kind of blog-out the expierence.

This will be my first foray into this blog of mine and I am looking forward to getting started with "Project Indy". Wish me luck - I am pretty much going into this blind. :)