So I have been thinking about doing a new A1200 build some point this year, (i got to wait for A1200.net to ship me the Cd32 edition case) but have been debating about what to put in it, the new 68K+ platforms are all offering their own unique features and qualities,
Pi5 / mini x86 self build emulation system
- Good Points
- Run my fav distro Amikit XE
- Have access to Rabbit Hole / Other apps
- Run other emulator on it / (QEMU AmigaOs4 as example)
- The Fastest system
- Could be cheapest system
- Bad Points
- DIY, build it your self, hardware and software no real official support, lot more work
- Dont have access to some of the custom features of other platform
- Not 100% accurate
- Not supporting other efforts
- Kinda have it already on my PC and is it really an Amiga?
My Original plan, and likely the one I’m still most likely to do, as does give me the most freedom on what I can do with the system and what feature I want to add to the platform. Plus if I go this route it’s the only system able to run a fast emulated AmigaOS4 system.
Vampire V4 / Apollo v4
- Good Points
- FPGA system, much more accurate
- Access to 68080, SAGA, ApolloOS
- Supporting a cool Amiga effort
- Bad Points
- Cost is a bit high
- Slowest system
- Some software issue I’v heard
I always liked the goals of this project and the What If, Motoroal kept developing the 68K platform its presents. The only thing that puts me off is it price and software support (the software support seem to have improved in terms of stabilities, which is good to see, but there still can some issue).
A1200NG
- Good Points
- Likely Easiest DIY effort for A1200 system
- Access to Amibench
- Loads of new Amiga apps and software all setup and ready to go
- Looks to have good dev support
- Bad Points
- Bit pricier than a self build could be
- Emulation, not 100% accurate
- Not as fast / powerful as a self build could be
The newest choice / platform on this list from Amigakit, I mean its kinda what my original plan was going to be, but its all setup and ready to go. It very tempting choice, I wish the system was a little cheaper and faster, as the system really is only orange pi3 with Amiga ports hardware wise. I feel a self build could be done cheaper, however you are supporting one of the few manufactures/stores left in the Amiga scene. Plus the software your getting loads of classic top tier Amiga apps updated and a very promising Amibench OS developments, that finally ports some parts of the OS to arm.
A1200 + Pistorm
- Good Points
- Could go complete Re-A1200 level
- 100% original hardware
- Pistorm Speeds
- Build would be farily easy
- Bad Points
- Some software issue
- Not as fast as emulation can be
- Costs
Pistorm is an amazing addition to the Amiga scene and gives you a super fast Amiga. Plus there is something about still having original hardware in your machine.
PocketStorm / Amicube F1200 / Minimig + Pistorm
- Good Points
- Cheaper FPGA than Vampire
- Most are in development stages, may need to wait
- Bad Points
- Cost could still be higher than Self build
- Not as fast as emulation can be
- Still be a bit DIY
A very new idea has been to combine FPGA (wich would just emulate the Amiga chipsets and not the cpu) with a Pistorm (which would do a very fast 68K emulation) to give you a super fast and importantly a fairly cheap Amiga. This very much all in work in progress stuff, but does sound interesting idea.
The A1200
- Good points
- no build required
- 25 games and basic system setup all ready to go
- fairly low cost, official support
- Bad points
- limited in maybe what it can do, likely would have to hack the system to run custom Os’s
- likely low spec system
- supporting a coprate effort and not really a user/community based project
So I wouldn’t have do anything if I just want a base A1200 Amiga like experience, this is likely going to be the easiest route for most people, but for me im more after a next level experience of what Amiga can be, unfortunately I just don’t see the hardware bring powerful enough to do that and I don’t see an effort to push the Amiga platform forward, it’s really all about the past, I would have to hack it to get the full use out of it.
So as you can see, the Amiga world is far from not having choices, its kinda amazing and I wish to thank all the devs who have made all these choice so competitive with one another. So which platform would you do?
https://poll-maker.com/poll5460175x01A84740-162
https://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=45467&forum=2