Could going with an x86 processor save the Amiga?
>would killing off all backwards compatibility and having a dying company start from scratch with a completely different architecture work outNo.
delete this thread
>>10884515I think OP meant Amiga 1000 having a x86 CPU in 1985, not switching from 68K to x86 in the 90s.
>>10884507Commodore was producing X86 PCs at the same time as the Amiga.
The humble 286 was THREE TIMES faster than the amiga
>>10884507No. I went with an Amiga with a 286 but it failed to declare that Jesus Christ is lord, so was not saved.>>10884581>i seethed THREE TIMES about THREE TIMES so far todayPretty hilarious that that happens to be the exact number Intel was using in the mid 80s. Just imagine if you'd actually been around back then. Just imagine all those decades of vein popping seething.
>>10884581CPU, yes. but the Amiga had dedicated GPU and audio chips that left the 286 in the dust
>>10884524Having to use the 16bit 286 would ruin the design of AmigaOS.
>>10884815Having to use the 68000 ruined the entirety of Amiga.
>>10884507Nope.The Amiga was a nice system because of its custom chips for graphics and sound.Commodore did not invest in upgrading those chips, instead they fucked over the engineers and went with laughable stop gaps.What are you gonna do with a fast cpu, when your custom chips are still from 1984, just upgraded to use more ram and colors? Not much, is what.What if you put in a fast x86 CPU, a graphics card and a sound card? Might as well use a PC then.A nice all-in-one system with hardware-accelerated graphics and good sound built in, that could compete with the PC in the 90s? That could have worked.But that didn't happen. The Amiga was a mid-80s computer and it was good at that.Then Commodore missed the bus going into the 90s. And that's all she told.
>>10884507all the engineers that made the amiga great were already left or got fired after the amiga 500commodore died because it was just run by out of touch businessmen whose big idea to save the amiga was the cd32
I've wondered how Amiga would have fared if Tramiel's Atari had gotten the tech. My belief is it would have been more successful. The ST form factor and price at the time made for a more successful system, it had a ton of games and was targeted by publishers, it was way more affordable than the Amiga 1000 too. While the AmigaOS was nice, there was little commercial value to it at the time and those who were after workstation OS were buying Unix.So in my alternate universe, Atari launches the Amiga based ST with GEM-based OS. Commodore manages to get out their Unix workstation but like everyone else they make their money from PC clones.
>>10885839AKA: Amiga 500, but released in 1985? That would have made it more popular. Not a C64 Killer, but maybe closer; like eight to ten million units sold, intead of five.Now imagine, the engineers got their wish and updgraded the custom chips according to plan: small steps in 1987/1988 = AGA chipset, big steps in 1991/1992 = AAA chipset. It would have murdered the early 5th gen likes of 3DO and Jaguar.But then the Playstation and 3d accelarators on PC would have steamrolled it anyway. I would give the best case scenario an extended life expectancy of 2-4 years and double sales for the Amiga. But it wouldn't have changed its fate.
>>10886514The ST was pretty popular at the time, the A1000 didn't really sell too well, the A500 definitely did and it could have been released many years earlier if Atari had the rights. I'm not sure how much Atari would have improved it in the future though but to be fair they did do some incremental updates to the ST. In many ways Commodore was hamstrung by their increasingly crusty in-house silicon fab and design where Atari had the advantage of using the market.
>>10884507the amiga was an absurdly successful computer in europe dude and was in basically every US TV station>>10884581didn't seem like it
>>10884581On what planet? The AT and clones never went past 12MHz.
>>10886953>The AT and clones never went past 12MHz.On what planet?
>>10886724It was being humble, wouldn't want to show off.
>>10887041Prove it.
>>10888246That's a really stupid name for a planet. It goes well with the really stupid alternative history you invented for it.
The only thing that could save the Amiga is having competent leadership that doesn't sack the entire team immediately.
A1200 wasn't a bad update but it was too late. At the time it released it should have had an 030 minimum. Ideally it should have been launched by 1990, AGA was OK but the sound should have been updated to be 8x8-bit or 4x16 bit. CPU should have been faster too.
