Author Topic: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware (Read 2483 times)

EngineersCake · « **on:** July 29, 2010, 10:17:11 AM »

Hey forum,
I'm looking to pick up some Amiga compatible hardware. I'm by no means an Amiga purist, but am interested in getting involved in the community. So if the forum doesn't mind I have a bunch of Junior User questions.

As far as hardware goes, is there a huge difference in the quality or any advantage of the Pegasos II over the Sam4X0?

Is there any online retailers that carry the unfortunately discontinued Genesi products? I'm particularly interested in the Open Desktop Workstation (ODW) and the Home Media Center.

I have about $600 to spend. That said, is it worth the wait to put my faith in a-eon and Amiga Inc. and save for the X1000 that might not actually come out?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Rick

jj · « **Reply #1 on:** July 29, 2010, 11:49:48 AM »

The X1000 is likely to be £1500 on release, what ever that is in your american funny money

You can pick up Peg IIs now and again on ebay and other places.

Are you only interesteed in running or AmigaOS or is MorphOS of interest to oyu.

drHirudo · « **Reply #2 on:** July 29, 2010, 12:06:43 PM »

Quote from: EngineersCake;572561

Hey forum,
I'm looking to pick up some Amiga compatible hardware. I'm by no means an Amiga purist, but am interested in getting involved in the community. So if the forum doesn't mind I have a bunch of Junior User questions.

As far as hardware goes, is there a huge difference in the quality or any advantage of the Pegasos II over the Sam4X0?

Is there any online retailers that carry the unfortunately discontinued Genesi products? I'm particularly interested in the Open Desktop Workstation (ODW) and the Home Media Center.

I have about $600 to spend. That said, is it worth the wait to put my faith in a-eon and Amiga Inc. and save for the X1000 that might not actually come out?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Rick

If you want new computer currently the only option is SAM440EP-FLEX and in September the SAM460 is expected.

If you don't mind second hand, there is wide variety of options. The best in the second hand market is Pegasos II, being able to run AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS.

Kronos · « **Reply #3 on:** July 29, 2010, 02:53:30 PM »

600$ is 460Euro atm, those funds are insufficient for even buying the basic (and quite lowend) SAM440, which go for about 585Euro (listed but out of stock at vesalia.de). You should be able to get it without VAT (as your outside the EU) bringing it down to 487Euro, but thats just the bare board, no RAM, no HD, no case, no P&P.

Used Pegasos2 in the G4 variant are a much sought after item and will easily fetch more than 600$ (for a complete system). The 600MHz G3 version should stay within in your budget even as a full system (but they seem even rarer than the G4s).

Pegasos1 (also G3/600MHz) can be had at bargain prices, but the HW has a few quirks and other options (see below) offer better value for money.

Another option is the Efika, which still can be bought new (old stock but with full warranty). Best option for you would be US-reseller Directron : http://search.directron.us/newsearch.php?find=efika

But you should understand that the Efika is aimed at markets were low power and small footprint are more important than massive computional power. You can build a 100% silent (no moving parts) computer out of it (if you add and Flash-based HD) but don't expect it to replace your major desktop PC.

Another options are used PPC-Macs, the current options are:
Any G4 based MacMini (the 1.5GHz version is to be preffered due to it's increaesed VMEM).
eMacs (only the 1.25GHz has been tested) wich can be bought for as little as 12Euro !!).

Support for G4-PowerMacs should arrive shortly, PowerMac-G5 and PowerBooks are being worked on.

Confused enough ?

Now we go to SW:

Their is either OS4, which has the Amiga name&sticker, costs about 90Euro for the Pegasos2 and is included in the price of the SAM440 (it also supports some discontinued boards by "Eyetech" but these were of questionable reliability and performance).

On the Pegasos1, Pegasos2 you can run the 100% free version 1.4x of MorphOS.
On Pegasos1, Pegasos2, Efika and the listed Macs you can run MorphOS2.x which costs 111Euro atm (you might get lucky and find a used Pegasos1/2 or Efika with this allready included). A free trial version can downloaded at http://morphos.de/ , this is 100% identical to the bought version, only that it will slow down after 30min (counting from last reboot).

So easiest and cheapest way to take a sneak into the community is to get a used Mac from eBay, install the free MorphOS trial and than decide if you want to spend more money.

efrenmgp · « **Reply #4 on:** July 29, 2010, 04:29:45 PM »

Pegasos II is very nice and as others said, it supports both AOS4.1 and MorphOS 2.5

You can PM Dragster, he has one spare G4 Pegasos II motherboard and it's for sale.

Regards
Efren

Iggy · « **Reply #5 on:** July 29, 2010, 04:56:50 PM »

Quote from: efrenmgp;572580

Pegasos II is very nice and as others said, it supports both AOS4.1 and MorphOS 2.5

You can PM Dragster, he has one spare G4 Pegasos II motherboard and it's for sale.

Regards
Efren

That sounds like a good way to go if you can swing it. The Pegasos is one of the only systems the will run AmigaOS4 and MorphOS. PegIIs are definately more desirable than PegIs and G4s are preferablr to G3s.

The Acube/SAM boards and systems are slightly high priced (and maybe a little lower performance), but if you're going to run AOS they're the only option for new hardware.

The Efika (available from Directron) is limited to 128MB, uses to slowest processor of all boards mentioned, and only supports MorphOS (or Linux). That being said, its the lowest cost option mentioned.

Max support (currently only the G4 Mac Mini and the eMac) is, as mentioned, available under MorphOS.

Also available is the old AmigaOne (not to be confused with the X1000).
Offer in the ATX format SE with a 600 Mhz PPC 750CXe processor (wihich should probably be avoided) and the G3 and G4 powered XE. In addition to these two, the same manufacturer Eyetech also produced the mATX Micro-A1 - C.
All of these are generally cheaper than PegasosIIs (when you can find them) and will run AOS4.X.

Remember, when you're spending your (sensibly decimal based) dollars, that new products from the UK are charged a VAT (and, of course, the British stick with their bizarre non-decimal based monetary system

).
The exchange rate with the Euro is pretty good, so purchase from the rest of Europe aren't bad.
And, of course, global shipping is higher than getting it in the US.

jj · « **Reply #6 on:** July 29, 2010, 05:36:36 PM »

Quote from: Iggy;572582

That sounds like a good way to go if you can swing it. The Pegasos is one of the only systems the will run AmigaOS4 and MorphOS. PegIIs are definately more desirable than PegIs and G4s are preferablr to G3s.

The Acube/SAM boards and systems are slightly high priced (and maybe a little lower performance), but if you're going to run AOS they're the only option for new hardware.

The Efika (available from Directron) is limited to 128MB, uses to slowest processor of all boards mentioned, and only supports MorphOS (or Linux). That being said, its the lowest cost option mentioned.

Max support (currently only the G4 Mac Mini and the eMac) is, as mentioned, available under MorphOS.

Also available is the old AmigaOne (not to be confused with the X1000).
Offer in the ATX format SE with a 600 Mhz PPC 750CXe processor (wihich should probably be avoided) and the G3 and G4 powered XE. In addition to these two, the same manufacturer Eyetech also produced the mATX Micro-A1 - C.
All of these are generally cheaper than PegasosIIs (when you can find them) and will run AOS4.X.

Remember, when you're spending your (sensibly decimal based) dollars, that new products from the UK are charged a VAT (and, of course, the British stick with their bizarre non-decimal based monetary system ).
The exchange rate with the Euro is pretty good, so purchase from the rest of Europe aren't bad.
And, of course, global shipping is higher than getting it in the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day :lol:

Dragster · « **Reply #7 on:** July 29, 2010, 06:22:37 PM »

Quote from: efrenmgp;572580

Pegasos II is very nice and as others said, it supports both AOS4.1 and MorphOS 2.5

You can PM Dragster, he has one spare G4 Pegasos II motherboard and it's for sale.

Regards
Efren

Thanks Ef.

Yup, I've one for sale.

Pegasos II motherboard with 1 GHz G4 CPU module.
512 MB Ram
Ati Radeon 9200 PCI video card with 128 MB Ram.

It has NO OS4.x or MorphOS license, you can get any of those or both at your expense.

PM me if interested.

Cheers,

Dragster

takemehomegrandma · « **Reply #8 on:** July 29, 2010, 07:08:30 PM »

@ EngineersCake

Well, if you *have to* use OS4, then the Pegasos 2 G4 offers without competition the best performance and best value for your money. This is what you want!

You will also be able to run MorphOS (you can try it out completely for free!

Iggy · « **Reply #9 on:** July 29, 2010, 07:26:48 PM »

Quote from: JJ;572587

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day :lol:

Thanks for the reference, but what do I do with all those demonetized six pence coins now?

No actually, I haven't read the entire post, but the change seems sensible. However, there was a kind of weird charm the the old monetary system.

Anyway, at least the British avoided getting into the Euro. Nothing like watching the value of your funds decrease because of the effect of a few countries with large amounts of bad credit.

Besides, being of Irish decent, I wouldn't want to be seen as being negative toward the British (even if we're still a little PO'd about the whole export food from British land holdings while the country starves -aka Potato famine -thing),

takemehomegrandma · « **Reply #10 on:** July 29, 2010, 07:55:23 PM »

Quote from: Iggy;572599

Anyway, at least the British avoided getting into the Euro. Nothing like watching the value of your funds decrease because of the effect of a few countries with large amounts of bad credit.

Like Great Britain you mean?

Iggy · « **Reply #11 on:** July 29, 2010, 09:08:00 PM »

Quote from: takemehomegrandma;572604

Like Great Britain you mean?

Actually, I was thinking of Spain and some other counties. Although, I wouldn't hold up the British as current examples in innovation or the production of desirable products.
Frankly, I was just wondering how the Germans felt about being duped into using the same currency as other, less productive, countries.

EngineersCake · « **Reply #12 on:** August 09, 2010, 02:58:39 AM »

Thanks people for the support and ideas. I still don't know what I'm going do. The G4 Mac Mini looks intriguing,

How does MorphOS differ from AmigaOS 4.1? Or is that like asking how OSX differs from Win7?

Is there an advantage in one over the other?

Will AmigaOS runn on the G4 Mac Mini as well?

Thanks again for the help. (-:

SamuraiCrow · « **Reply #13 on:** August 09, 2010, 03:19:35 AM »

Quote from: EngineersCake;573995

Thanks people for the support and ideas. I still don't know what I'm going do. The G4 Mac Mini looks intriguing,

How does MorphOS differ from AmigaOS 4.1? Or is that like asking how OSX differs from Win7?

Is there an advantage in one over the other?

Will AmigaOS runn on the G4 Mac Mini as well?

Thanks again for the help. (-:

MorphOS runs faster than AmigaOS 4.1 due mainly to better optimized video drivers. If you're posting from the USA, there's a thread on MorphZone.org that will interest you. A sacrifice sell of a PegII. The Pegasos II is the only computer that will dual-boot MorphOS and AmigaOS 4.1. See Pegasos II 1 GHz G4 for sale.

Andre.Siegel · « **Reply #14 on:** August 09, 2010, 06:58:07 PM »

Quote from: Iggy;572599

Anyway, at least the British avoided getting into the Euro. Nothing like watching the value of your funds decrease because of the effect of a few countries with large amounts of bad credit.

The United Kingdom will borrow the equivalent of 12 percent of the annual output of its economy in 2010. That will be the highest budget deficit in the entire EU.

For comparison, the average budget deficit of all countries in the eurozone will be 6.6 percent (which includes Greece and Spain).

On behalf of everyone in the eurozone, thank you to all Brits for not joining the Euro!

Just for the record, there are valid reasons to keep an independent currency. But, at least with regard to the UK's situation, those have nothing to do with debt levels in other countries.

Quote from: Iggy;572599

Frankly, I was just wondering how the Germans felt about being duped into using the same currency as other, less productive, countries.

It's pretty much the other way around. Those less productive countries got duped into using the same currency as Germany. Germany had been the world's biggest exporter, when measured as the total value of all exported goods, until very recently (China is now #1). A big reason for this is that German goods and services have been artificially cheap because of the Euro while goods and services offered in "less productive" countries became more expensive due to the strength of the Euro (in relation to the older national currencies in these countries).

So, from a German perspective, using the same currency as countries with weaker economies has not been an issue at all, it has been a blessing. If the Euro loses a bit more value, export-driven German businesses won't complain since it just makes them more competitive...

On other hand, it is true that Germany is paying at least some money to certain countries with economic problems. However, the only outraging thing about it is that a few countries have become well-known tax havens in Europe that undercut taxes to attract European businesses. It feels a bit rotten if your neighbour "steals" a paying client by dramatically undercutting your prices, thus decreases your income and then asks you for a handout because he cannot pay his bills... Some light tax harmonization will likely become inevitable at some point.

Author Topic: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware (Read 2483 times)

EngineersCake

Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

jj

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

drHirudo

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

Kronos

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

efrenmgp

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

Iggy

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

jj

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

Dragster

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

takemehomegrandma

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

Iggy

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

takemehomegrandma

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

Iggy

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

EngineersCake

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

SamuraiCrow

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware

Andre.Siegel

Re: Genesi and Pegasos II PPC based hardware