It's been a bit of a problem finding the time to write articles for the Amiga Pages recently, I've been busy working on the Suite101 Amiga editorial, a site redesign at work and a new job.. yep, I've got myself a new software development job and start in June. That is assuming my current employers allow me to leave at the end of May, which isn't guaranteed unfortunately. I feel a sudden illness developing at the start of June should they prove really troublesome.
Anyway, the new job leads into an interesting situation as I'll be working part from home, part in the office so I'll need to ensure the 'home office' is well equipped. The Amiga is fine for producing reports, websites, CGI development using Apache and Perl, or UNIX-like GCC development as I do all that work at home and more already, but I'll be using something which the Amiga just doesn't have. It's not often you'll find me saying that, but it's true. I'll need Lotus Notes (available for Windoze or Macintosh) and possibly Linux - neither of which will run on the Amiga I currently have (25 MHz 68EC030 A4000).
Okay, I could emulate MacOS or Win95 (slowly) in theory. However, I'm a stickler for using software legally so I'd have to obtain a legitimate copy of the Mac ROMs, MacOS (versions of which are freely available now) or Win95. No way am I buying ANY Micros**t product, so it would have to be the Mac, which I have to admit I've always liked in many ways despite being a little user obsequious. All these can be obtained for less than a new machine, but at considerably less performance. It's a 25 MHz 030 we're talking about here...
In reality, the company actually allows an employer to purchase two machines. The first is recommended to be a Windoze box as this is what most clients use and it supports Lotus Notes. The second is effectively free choice, so most people opt for Linux, with a couple of Mac users and even an OS/2 user in the office. In theory, my second box could be an Amiga... though I'd have to justify that.
For mobility, the Lotus Notes machine would need to be portable between office and home, i.e. a notebook computer, and (for personal reasons) this would really have to be an Apple machine - a Powerbook G3 if I can possibly persuade them, though the price (about 1200 UKP) for a low-end system is rather high in comparison to other Notes-supporting machines and I fear it'll have to be a Windoze notebook - either way, I can see UAE/Amiga Forever being added at some stage, so I'll be able to simulate an Amiga laptop.
So, anyway, I'll be needing a UNIX-like system. Aha, well I already have a NetBSD system running on a salvaged 486SX - that could easily be converted to a Linux system if necessary, or made to emulate Linux through NetBSD's excellent Linux binary emulation libraries. However, while an 8MB 486SX is fine for many things, a faster system (particularly one that can deal with XFree86 better) is a must in reality. Now, when I think of spending money on a faster machine, I think of upgrading the Amiga or getting a faster one. Two Amigas (well, three actually but the A500 doesn't count in this case) would actually be very useful so an 060 BoXeR is highly desirable solution.
Only you can't currently get the BoXeR motherboard. I could opt for A1200 systems, but I'd prefer to go for this as it seems like a cleaner and more structured redesign - plus I can DIY a system using several PC components (particularly cases) to reduce the cost. Anyway, at last count the 060 BoXeR would probably set me back as much as 900-1000 UKP, which is out of my price range unless I decide not to get an Amiga NG (or transAM, or whatever) as soon as released (I have saved money set aside purely for this!). Despite all the excellent stuff going on, I actually feel slightly frustrated by this turn of events. Mick Tinker and Access aren't to blame, it's the Amiga market in general which is in a bit of a flux so praise to Access for keeping the BoXeR going and under continual development and refinement until it is released - it wouldn't be terribly useful to eventually release something that has been static since its original release date, though I hope ways to lower the price marginally are being included.
So the BoXeR is out for the moment. Why not upgrade the A4000? Good idea, though an 060 is out as the Oktagon 2008 apparently clashes with the 68060 - though that's no excuse as I could always get a different SCSI board... assuming I can find a different SCSI board in the UK. There isn't much room for an accelerator board on the CPU slot anyway as I'm using the original, 'economy' desktop case from Commodore (which is cramped, but rather stylish) - I simply have no room to fit the accelerator and even then it'll get very hot from what I've heard. Zorro-based acceleration using one of the ESCENA, Met@Box or Phase 5 G3 boards is a possibility, but I have no free Zorro slots due to the case. Besides, they just aren't available yet (and the cost is verging towards the BoXeR 900 UKP mark and thus out of my price range). Oh the frustration...
Step one then appears to be to get a bigger case, a tower case which also offers some extra Zorro slots while I'm at it - I'd say 5 at least including one for video as that should accommodate my current card stockpile plus room for one or two more (I have to get Ethernet, though it may end up on the IOBlix card which solves the problem). It should also be incredibly easy to assemble, I'm quite good with a screwdriver and expansion cards, but I'm not a hardware guru - and I hate having to cut or solder anything. I certainly don't want to be in a situation where something gets broken - I can't afford to be without the A4000 for more than 24 hours. Any recommendations?
Towers aren't cheap, but with the new found room I'll be able to get a decent accelerator board... though the 060 meets Oktagon problem is quite serious, so I'll have to get another, compatible, SCSI card which is a shame as the Oktagon has been excellent - faster than the SCSI systems on the PCs at work in actual fact! Totalling the case, accelerator and SCSI together I come up with a value as much as a new BoXeR system, though available now. True I get a much better Amiga, and that 060 will be gorgeous with Photogenics 4.0, plus I can run the Amiga port of Red Hat Linux... but it's out of my price range and I get a bit of hassle doing it. I've never known upgrading the Amiga to be such a problem before...
Going the PC route is the alternative, though I must emphasise that any PC would never be able to replace the Amiga - this A4000/030 is going to be my primary system until replaced by another Amiga. But today's PCs are out of my price range even if you use a free OS like NetBSD, FreeBSD or Linux rather than pay the Micros**t tax! Macs are out the price range too. However, a DIY PC isn't that expensive as I discovered by doing an idle experiment using a Maplin catalogue...
I could build a serious PC system with a K6-2 266MHz processor (I won't use Intel for various reasons), 4MB Graphics card, 32 MB RAM, 3.2GB hard disk, 32X CD-ROM, Ethernet, etc. for just over 400 UKP - half the price of the Amiga options above! Stick NetBSD on, that I have on CD-ROM already, with Linux emulation or buy something like Red Hat and I have a usable system. That's quite scary as it's within budget, does what I need and I could even put something like BeOS on too. It's also available now, handles an RC5 client for the Amiga RC5 team, and could be used for KOSH or even the development release of AmigaOS 5.0 in the near future - it's actually quite difficult to justify the Amiga route for the second system when faced against this, even though I'd rather use the AmigaOS than Linux, NetBSD, MacOS, BeOS, etc. due to the better look'n'feel and software (believe it or not, I've yet to find software on non-Amiga platforms that justifies me using anything other than the Amiga).
But for just over 400 UKP for a computer I would regard as quite high spec is surprising - if you ever need a reason why the Amiga NG should make heavy use of industry standard components, this is it. Custom chippery and proprietary hardware can't compete any more on price/performance grounds... the only way the Amiga can compete, in the short term at least, is to use existing hardware and push that to the limits. BeOS and Linux sort of do this - pushing hardware far beyond Windows' capabilities which makes the hardware developers look good and shows the OS off in a favourable light. A good situation to be in, I'm sure you'll agree.
So anyway, which route I move towards is still open to conjecture until I've moved job and assessed the requirements more carefully, but I think you can see the K6 PC is a strong choice. Best of all, I might even be able to get an 060 Amiga after all, via an InsideOut Amiga-on-a-card, which would be quite nice. I think you can see my reasoning here, and for once I can understand at least some of the reasons why many Amigans, secretly or not, have sidestepped to other platforms until the NG Amigas are rolled out. However, you'll note Windoze has not featured in any of the above plans - there's been mention of MacOS, BeOS, Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, but no Windoze... I still can't understand why the PC route for the majority of Amigans involves adding Windoze to the equation. Alternative platforms are the way... we need to embrace the non-Wintel world, just as they need to embrace us - it's the only way.