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[Kronos]

. I can't think why Suse wouldn't work.

I'm sure they meant their full distro which doesn't have support for
Artica+VIA in the kernel. SUSE + new kernel has been running on the
Pegasos since last summer, so it should be no big prob.

When I asked Mr Garda in Cologne about it he said something about some
probs with having a x86-southbridge (VIA) connected to a PPC in the
kernel's IDE-driver, but they got it working (and the A1 has a kernel too).

"All" thats has to be done now is packing the new kernel onto a distro-CD.

[System]

Hmm. I didn't think it was a secret that the Amiga One was based on the Teron CX. Given that 1) It uses the same chipset 2) It is designed by the same "far eatern" company. [Eyetech them selves admitted this]. I'd rather dought the Far East Co. Inc. would redisign the board from the grownd up, it is just not practilce

Mabey the problem is Eyetech saying "no it is not the same", which to me means .. it's not the same thing you get if you get a Teron CX, it is different in some aspect.

They did of course though not specifically state it was similar, probably not wanting to go through the hassle of describing the minute differences and have every change be questioned, especially when they did not design it.

I'll have to look for the price of the Terron to comment on Wayne's post I don't see a price, but I've been reading all day long

[Ivan]

Well, i'm willing to venture some guesses Wayne.

>1) Why have we been waiting on Eyetech
>2) What does Eyetech actually have to do with it?
>3) Why are we paying a substantial price premium to Eyetech for the AmigaOne?

To design a board, build a prototype, debug it, wait for OS4 beta to be ready, send it to that 'far eastern company' for production, etc.
As I understand it, MAI only produced a proof of concept board in the Teron's. The A1 SE and eventually XE are different creations. MAI isn't into mobo design, just the chipsets and from what i can see there are a number of differences between the Terons and A1's. Enough to warrant a whole new name at least. Correct me if i'm wrong (please) but the MAI site shows a very different board from the Eyetech site. Both Arctica chipsets yes but things diverge from there it seems. One has 3 PCI slots, another has 4, etc.
But about that price premium.. I'd like to know too. I don't have a clue where to begin. If $600 is right and they are flogging the A1 at Eyetech for $550 then i dunno what to think. Anyone have some solid numbers for us to chew on? Anyway, hey they are a business right, i didnt expect they would work for free. Still, that dosen't mean i dont want to know how big a cut they are taking either.

Ivan

[HeUnique]

Although I don't have a board - SuSE DOES run on the development board that Eyetech sells to those who became AOS 4.0 beta testers/developers..

Other reports that I heard is that the Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) runs perfectly nice...

Hetz

[newbee]

My thoughts:

1). I wouldn't care if it was manufactured by King Kong and distributed by Mickey Mouse as long as i get one ;-)
2). I don't understand what the problem is with the $600US price since they are marketed direct from site at $2000US+ (check it out yourself at the bottom of this page http://www.mai.com/products/teron%20cx.htm )
3). By forming a partnership where one produces the boards and the other markets and distributes them it is a "Win / Win" for both companies.

Regards
Darren

[redrumloa]

Anyone have some solid numbers for us to chew on?

Actually you can go to the horses mouth for that, Eyetech.

From:
http://www.eyetech.co.uk/addbar.php?Address=/NEWS/AMIGA001.HTM

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AmigaOneG3-SE pricing

Dealers are free to set their own end user prices both for the AmigaOneG3-SE boards and for complete systems to take account of import duty, localisation of support, documentation etc. However our recommended pricing for the AmigaOneG3-SE motherboard, inclusive of a 750CXe 600 MHz G3 PPC processor but exclusive of local taxes and shipping charges, is UKP350, USD500, EUR600.

OS4 pricing is determined by Hyperion but is likely to be UKP42.50, USD62.50, EUR70.00 (excluding local taxes) when bought with an AmigaOneG3-SE board or system. The standalone prices for OS4 (for use with the CyberstormPPC etc) are likely to be UKP51.00, USD74.00 EUR84.00 (excluding local taxes & shipping).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a matter of fact when I ordered my developer board I got a $50 discount, so the A1G3 is only costing me $450. I don't know where some people are getting ideas of prices north of >$600USD :-?

[System]

From Wayne:

Great news, and no, the naysayers weren't wrong. We said it was an MAI board all along despite the denial from Alan.

Wayne, you really should read the release more carefully before jumping to all the wrong conclusions. We have always said that the AmigaOne board was based on the Teron Cx design that MAI commissioned - and that is exactly what the MAI press release says! It is not however the same board as the AmigaOne. By taking this route we have been able to have a fully working board in the hands of developers within a few months of scrapping the original AmigaOne-1200 design on economic grounds.

But... now I'm confused. If the AmigaOne is, in fact (which it is) an MAI board,

What is this? You don't want to believe me and now you don't want to believe MAI either. MAI make chips, not boards. They commissioned a few Teron CX boards and had them manufactured externally so that they had a testbed/developer system for potential mass purchasers of their chips (for use in set-top boxes, embedded systems etc). Thats why these systems cost $3900 each - check out their web site. They do not, and have no intention of making production boards - these are simply not available, not at $600 or any other price, from MAI or anyone else.

By forming a partnership with them it is a win/win situation all round. We get (and modify) the Teron design for the AmigaOne and go into production at production volumes and production costs (ie much lower than evaluation board costs - but still nowhere like as low as the costs of PC boards which are manufactured in the 100000's). MAI get lower cost evaluation boards for their chip customers by piggybacking on our production runs, and the AmigaOne developers bring a high level of driver/porting etc expertise to the party which MAI don't have (they are chip designers, remember). Thanks to the A1 developers we've already got 5 different modern Linux PPC distributions up and running from a standing start in a few weeks whereas MAI's own offering for their evaluation boards was previously limited to a very old version of TurboLinux.

which is being marketed to resellers at substantially less than $600 (which in fact it is), then

Excuse me, but what planet are you from? The A1 dealers need to provide technical and consumer support for the board, eat, pay mortgages and other bills. Of course they buy the boards from us at a discount. But I really do not think that any of them would regard the discount as 'substantial'. It is however around the same level (in %) that most of them would have received on - for example - phase 5's PPC accelerators (although of course the A1 boards are substantially cheaper and therefore a dealers absolute margin will be much less per sale).

1) Why have we been waiting on Eyetech

Presumably because you want an AmigaOne. Otherwise I really don't know

2) What does Eyetech actually have to do with it?

I have spelt this out already. MAI make chips not boards and there would have been no end-user boards produced based on their teron design had we had we not formed the partnership agreement which was the subject of the release.

3) Why are we paying a substantial price premium to Eyetech for the AmigaOne?

Pardon again. The AmigaOne price (like I imagine that of the Pegasos) is purely related to build cost. I'm sure that Mr Buck would have loved to price that board at significantly lower than the AmigaOne if possible*. But broadly speaking both boards will have similar production costs and therefore (bit of a leap in logic this for some readers) roughly the same selling price. Of course you could always buy a few thousand chipsets yourself and wirewrap them together to save assembly costs - I'd be very happy to compete with you on that basis.

(*and if we could realistically sell the AmigaOne for half that of the Pegasos then of course we would of course do that as well)

Sorry, I wish Alan all the best, and there's probably something I'm not aware of (please elaborate?), but for me this press release very distinctly leaves the taste of Eyetech as an unnecessary middle-man who is there simply to get his cut.

I think the thing you are missing Wayne is an acute sense of reality.


Alan

[whabang]

Let me see if I got this straight...

Eyetech has modified the TeronCX into A1. This is good as MAI sells chips and ET saves developement costs. Am I right?

[System]

If $600 is right and they are flogging the A1 at Eyetech for $550 then i dunno what to think.

The price on our website clearly states the AmigaOneG3-SE is USD500, or USD 550 including OS4-OEM. I really don't know where Wayne got his USD600 from.

Alan

[Coder]

It looks to me also that Eyetech is not really making any money of the boards in the beginning. I know what work they are doing now on it. And that is something worth mentioning too. They put more in it then they will get out of it in the beginning.

Good work Eyetech. :-)

Coder

[System]

@Alan,

Thank you for clarifying. As I said in the original post, "there must be something I'm missing" (or something to that effect). I appreciate your response and your honesty. You've pointed out a few things I was not aware of, and no, anyone who knows me knows I am *not* a fan nor supporter of Bill Buck, Merlancia, et al.

The "$600" I believe comes from early press releases and I don't know how much it goes for, especially since it's still not available. I will tell you factually that I am still firmly not a fan of the AmigaOne concept (PowerPC based hardware in general) at all. More power to you though, and I believe that we all appreciate the clarifications.

[Georg]

No, Eyetech does not do motherboard designing.
According to Eyetech itself, the AmigaOne is
designed by some far eastern company, which
they don't wont to name. The same company who
designed the Terons for MAI.

[Georg]

We get (and modify) the Teron design for the AmigaOne and

you mean the unknown far eastern company
modifies it, right?

BTW: Don't you think some of the confusion you
are causing yourself? For example by having
shown real unmodified Teron's (evaluation boards) and
still speaking about AmigaOne/AmigaOne XE
prototypes.