AmigaOne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AmigaOne is a trademark, which was used with agreement of Amiga, Inc. by UK computer vendor Eyetech Group Ltd., exclusively for the purpose of selling various hardware for running AmigaOS 4.
The last use of the trademark was to sell the Teron series of PowerPC POP mainboards, with the main intent to run AmigaOS version 4.0 created by Hyperion Entertainment in Belgium. The Teron motherboards are based on Articia northbridge chipsets designed by MAI Logic, Inc., a fabless Taiwanese-American integrated circuit (IC) company.
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[edit] History
Originally, AmigaOne was the name of a project for new Amiga hardware, managed by Eyetech and designed by the German company Escena GmbH. The AmigaOne motherboard was to be available in two models, the AmigaOne-1200 and the AmigaOne-4000. It was to have connectors for an optionally attached Amiga A1200 or an A4000 respectively, in order to use the old custom chips of an Amiga. This AmigaOne project was cancelled in 2001, mostly due to the inability to find or design a suitable northbridge chip.
After the Escena design was abandoned, Eyetech sought an alternative solution. The result was that in 2002 they decided to use the Teron CX PowerPC evaluation motherboard for a product named "AmigaOnepointfive" which eventually became the AmigaOne SE. Later, the Teron PX motherboard was marketed by Eyetech as the Amiga One XE, followed by the Teron Mini which was marketed as Micro-A1 (also known as µ-A1). The Teron is based on IBM's PowerPC Open Platform specification, and uses the U-Boot firmware.
The main difference between the ATX-format AmigaOne SE and XE was that the AmigaOne SE had a soldered-on 600 MHz PowerPC 750CXe processor, whereas the AmigaOne XE used a CPU board attached to a MegArray connector on the motherboard. While the MegArray connector is physically similar to the Apple Power Mac G4 CPU daughtercard connector, it is not electrically compatible. There were G3 and G4 options with a maximum clock frequency of 800 MHz and 933 MHz. The G4 module originally used a Freescale 7451 processor which was later changed to a Freescale 7455, both without level 3 cache. The G4 CPU runs hotter and requires a better heatsink than that supplied on some machines. Consequently, the G4 was often supplied underclocked to run at 800 MHz. In 2007 Acube offered 1.267 GHz 7457(See below). The last Teron motherboard used by Eyetech was the Teron Mini series of motherboards, which were somewhat similar to the Teron PX but made in a Mini-ITX formfactor and with some additions, such as onboard graphics, and a better 750GX CPU. The Micro-A1 was announced in two configurations, under the Micro-A1 I (Industrial) and Micro-A1 C (Consumer) labels. Only the C configuration was produced.
When the AmigaOne boards first became available, OS4 was not ready: they were supplied with various Linux distributions. From April 2004 onwards, boards were shipped with a "developer prerelease" version of OS4.
The full version of OS4 was launched in early 2007 for AmigaOne computers only, with the "Classic PPC" version being released in December 2007. AmigaOS 4.1 for AmigaOne has been released on September 2008.
[edit] Models and variants
| Eyetech's model name | Original model name | Timescale | RAM (base) | OS Version | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AmigaOne SE | Teron CX | 2002 - 2004 | Varies | (pre)4.0, 4.1 | ATX format motherboard |
| AmigaOne XE | Teron PX | 2003 - 2004 | Varies | (pre)4.0, 4.1 | ATX format motherboard |
| Micro-A1 - C | Teron Mini | 2004 - 2005 | 256 MB | (pre)4.0, 4.1 | Mini-ITX format motherboard |
| Micro-A1 - I | Teron Mini | never produced | 256 MB | - | Mini-ITX format motherboard |
[edit] Operating systems
- Linux for PowerPC
- AmigaOS 4 versions 4.0, 4.1.
[edit] Current status
MAI Logic Inc. went bankrupt, and consequently the supply of a major part for the Eyetech AmigaOnes dried up. Eyetech Group Ltd stopped the sales of the MicroA1 due to the naturally ensuing lack of bridge chips and supply issues of processors from IBM. In late 2006, Eyetech Group sold its entire remaining stock to Leaman Computing Ltd.
Because the AmigaOne boards were produced in a relatively small quantity (perhaps 1500 or so of all models combined) and are no longer being manufactured, they are now difficult to obtain.
The Sam440 mainboard (complete with PPC CPU) is a new board that runs AmigaOS 4.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Eyetech Group, Ltd.
- Amiga, Inc.
- Hyperion Entertainment
- AmigaScene.nl - AmigaOne, Amiga Classic support site (Dutch)
- www.amigaworld.net - Fan-site with an AmigaOne support forum
- AmigaOne model comparison table
- OS4 Depot - Public software and files for AmigaOS 4
- AmigaInfo.
- Official AmigaOS 4 homepage - from Hyperion Entertainment.
- Power.Org
- Ars Technica review of AmigaOne.
- User Review of AmigaOne.
- Amiga Auckland user group's review of AmigaOne.
- AmigaOne Linux Kernel.
- AmigaOne Debian Linux.
- AmigaOne Game List.
- Window of Illusion BBS -Andrew Alexander runs the first AmigaOne BBS
- amigakit.com
- G4 1.267 Ghz Module from Acube
[edit] References
- Amigaworld.net - The largest AmigaOne/AOS4 based community website portal. News, Forums, Interviews, Reviews, Tutorials and IRC Network.
- Intuition Base - Darren Glenn and cos site all about AmigaOS 4, and the release Eytech AmigaOne boards - includes replacement micro-A1 manual and photographic evidence of the hardware.
- Micro Mart - Weekly computer magazine published in the UK and available on newsstands across Britain - has a weekly Amiga page (and has done for over 6 years). Writer, Sven Harvey chronicles the rise and fall of the A1 and following PowerPC motherboards for AmigaOS 4.
- The Register - An article about the AmigaOne.
- Eyetech - Archived page containing AmigaOne update and information on the AmigaOne partnership between Eyetech, Hyperion Entertainment and Amiga Inc.
- Micromart - An archived article from Sven Harvey detailing the release of the AmigaOne G3-SE and commenting on the AmigaOne-1200 that was previously announced but never materialised.
- Amiga Inc - Bill McEwen provides a status update and announcement of the AmigaOne and AmigaOS 4
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