Re: [MiNT] New MiNT distribution is n.. ..pro

[maxilys@normandnet.fr (Remi Villatel)]

Hi Johan Klockars, on 18 Feb 00 you said:

    [---SNIP---]
 JK> Except for the driver problems I've mentioned before, I agree. But if
 JK> they insist on developing hardware, surely it would be much better to put
 JK> an '040/'060 (or PPC for that matter) on a PCI card, rather than develop
 JK> an entire main board?

Such a PCI PPC-card already exists. For example, look at:

http://joecard.com/

This one is very expensive, by the way... Any way, it will be adapted to Amiga. 
So why not to Atari too?

 JK> But would it really be worth all the (major) extra trouble just to not
 JK> have to load Windows? If you kept your eyes closed for a minute after you
 JK> turned the PC on, you'd never notice any difference.  ;-)

Yes, it's worth the trouble. Even if you close your eyes, an emulator will 
still be nothing more than an emulator, not a computer.

The best way we can go, IMHO, is to "open" our MiNT system in order to use the 
Linux GPL drivers recompiled in 680x0 code. That will solve the problem of the 
support of any new piece of hardware (at least partially, because only the 
Hadeses and Milans would be able to get PCI cards).

And among the new pieces of hardware, we may introduce a PCI PPC-card and begin 
to port everything and write new software in PPC native code.

Then the last move will be to move to a PPC-box (RioRed, for example, if it 
exists and if it's not too expensive) with a 68060 emulator for the old 
softwares. That's the only option IMHO: get closer to Linux and walk along the 
PPC way.

We can't stay stuck to the 680x0 forever. If that ColdFire wasn't a "crippled" 
680x0, that would have been a good turn. The PPC is a good solution and someone 
has already done the move from 680x0 to PPC; we could learn from the Apple 
experience and from the Amiga one too (especially in order not to have several 
PPC dedicated systems).

Well, if only Milan GmbH had adopted the PPC for the Milan 2... But they 
refused Motorola's offer who wanted to give them the 680x0 emulator _for free._ 
(Don't ask how I know; I'll even deny having said anything.) In that case, we 
wouldn't be here, still arguing about what our future could be.

See you later,

=============================
Remi Villatel
E-mail: maxilys@normandnet.fr
=============================