amiga-news.de - Fortnightly Q&A's mit Fleecy Moss

14.Sep.2003
AmigaWorld (ANF) Fortnightly Q&A's mit Fleecy Moss - Runde 19
Das englischsprachige Online-Magazin AmigaWorld hat die Folge 19 der zweiwöchentlichen Fragen und Antworten an und von Fleecy Moss, CTO bei AMIGA, Inc., veröffentlicht (Update, 15.03.2012, cg: Meldung um das eigentliche Interview ergänzt, da das ursprüngliche Dokument nicht mehr verfügbar ist):

1) Crumb: Regarding the new audio system with support for DSP functions... Do you plan to make a generic DSP library to use it not only for audio but also for video and other calculations (it would be used for vector calculations) which will use your DSP/Altivec unit?

Fleecy:DSPs as you know are highly specialised and thus it would be difficult and perhaps self defeating to attempt to provide a generic library for them. DSPs tend to utilised in the device and other low level code, or else directly accessed, such as when writing filters or codecs or effects routines. If you are asking about something else, feel free to email me privately.

2) Crumb: Will the AmigaOne Lite use the still to be released G3 with VMX (Altivec)?

Fleecy:Eyetech are looking at several options for their AmigaOne lite and will release that information when they have finalised them. The G3 VMX is a nice looking product, as is the VMX core itself and we are looking at these and associated technologies for several purposes in the future.

3) The_Editor: Epson were supposed to be partners.... I know Turboprint is being considered for printers but what about scanner drivers from Epson etc?

Fleecy:As I've said before, we have contacted many of the big peripheral companies and they have all given us a similar answer; that they will be delighted to work with us once they can see a commercial market. We will be going back to them soon to show them the progress that we have made with AmigaOS4.0 on the AmigaOne. We do have to be careful though because we have limited resources and we need to concentrate on the basics first; Be made the mistake of trying to expand support of various cards and perhipherals at the expense of continuing development and it is not something we intend to do.

4) Bobsonsirjonny: With regards to Merlancia and the Amiga MMC. Do they have a licence to call it Amiga?

Fleecy: Not that I am aware of.

5) HMK: Now that the EU (very unfortunately) wants to bring in a directive which allows companies to sue for software patent infringements, I want to ask how Amiga Inc. gets by with developing software in a country where software patents are enforced? Would you rather have headquarters residing in the EU?

Fleecy:I'm note sure if I understand this question. How do we 'get by' with developing software in a country where software patents are enforced? We don't infringe other peoples patent is the simple answer since it would be against the law. Would we rather have an HQ in the EU? Personally I'd love it, somewhere in the Siena - Florence - Lucca - Pisa area would be fine - good wine, good food, good football, good weather.

6) RockTillDeth: You said in the last Q&A that there is a parallel project going on to build the foundation for AOS5. Will this substitute AOS4 completely? If so what sense does this make with all the work already being done by the developers of AOS4, since it will all be substituted later? Or will that foundation carry over elements of AOS4?

Fleecy:AmigaOS4.0 is a herculean effort to remove AG1 away from a specific processor and chipset. With it nearing completion, we have two targets, developing the top and developing the bottom. This is the AG2 project. AmigaOS4 will be PPC only and so the upper services will be developed as services to run on the AmigaOS4 PPC foundation layer. The AG2 bottom layer will be developed separately for reasons that I can't go into at the moment. As to your question, the PPC foundation layer is a single processor family implementation that is a transition from the AG1 foundation layer which was written in a different technology time. Whilst it can be enhanced, it is what it is, which is not what we want when we reach AmigaOS5. Ultimately it will be replaced.

The future development of the AmigaOS was never about extending an old architecture indefinitely and neither was it about attempting to mimic Linux or other operating systems in an attempt to claim we were advancing the platform. The overall strategy is a coupled roll - first we roll AG1 onto PPC and a HAL, then we roll AG1 into AG2, then we roll the PPC and HAL onto the AG2 foundation layer.

7) utri007: Have you any plans to make some kind of Amiga server?

Fleecy:AG2 will add the necessary services required to implement a server, and we have customers interested in using AmigaOS for this kind of product.

8) GadgetMaster: What initiative do you have planned to attract the much needed developers to the OS4 platform?

Fleecy: I can't reveal that as we are in a competitive market and it wouldn't be too good if we did the work for our competitors. The obvious things for a developer are excellent tools and documentation, an operating system that allows them to do what they want to do and a market that allows them to be successful, however they may judge that success.

9) mjohnson: One thing I like in a "certain other operating system" (in contrast to about a gazilion dislikes) is the feature where you get thumbnails of pictures and webpages loaded in the directory window when you highlight a file. Is this something we might get to see in OS4?

Fleecy:Yes.

10) Asemoon: Will the classic Amiga ROMs ( v1.0-3.1) be included on the AmigaOS4 CD for UAE emulation?

Fleecy:We are looking into this but no decision has been made. It is likely that we will work with Cloanto since they are the only ones with an established and legal product in this area.

(Copyright © 2003 Amigaworld.net. All rights reserved.
Originally available at http://amigaworld.net/modules/fleecymoss/index.php?cat_id=20
You may freely redistribute this article, providing that a URL is provided to the original source,
and the copyright notices remain intact) (nba)

[Meldung: 14. Sep. 2003, 15:55] [Kommentare: 0]
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