Project Alpha
In March 1998, HiQ announced the move to port the AmigaOS to the
Alpha processor. As part of the continuing process they released a
Siamese Alpha-based workstations. "Project Alpha", as it has been
dubbed, consists of three main stages. The first is to ship the
Siamese RTG system allowing the Amiga and an alien operating
system, most likely some form of Windows, to be fully integrated,
using the Amiga system whilst retargeting the display to the host
machines own hardware. The second wave involves shipping Alpha systems to existing and past
Amiga users. These would include some way of running Amiga
software, either through the full Siamese software and an
Alpha-specific version of WinUAE Amiga emulation software, allowing
the users existing Amiga to be connected to the Alpha over
Ethernet. If space is a problem HiQ also promise to supply an
Access motherboard, produced by Index
Information, creating a hybrid Amiga-PC video system for the
purpose of advanced video work. Alternatively, they will supply a
stand-alone Amiga system, designed for the US Video Toaster market
if the user does not already own an Amiga. The fourth option is too
supply the official Amiga software emulation, "Amiga Forever" as a
free incentive to bring the ex-Amiga user back into the fold. These
options will, according to HiQ serve as an incentive to upgrade to
step three of their Alpha White Paper.
Step 3 has been delayed until 1999 due to the lack of Inside Out cards from Index Information. This is
an entire 040 or 060 based Amiga on a single board that can be
plugged into a host systems PCI slot. This will give access to all
hardware and software currently available on the host OS, allowing
integration of technology such as DVD that is unlikely to be
available to Amiga 68k users. This will provide a true
multi-platform system in the same box.
Step 4 and 5 was planned to commence during the second quarter
of 1998 and was the leap forward from running Amiga 68k software to
actually porting the AmigaOS to the Alpha processor. This will be
very slow at first, with the 68k EXEC remaining on the Amiga card
whilst various libraries and system operations are ported to native
Alpha to improve system performance. Step 6 involved the entire
AmigaOS being ported to the Alpha processor, with the Amiga card
only being used for software that accesses the custom chips.
Related Links
What is the Siamese System?
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